Iran Has Stake in Namibia Uranium Mine, Says Owner

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran, which the United States accuses of secretly pursuing nuclear weapons, has a stake in the world's biggest open-pit uranium mine in the African state of Namibia, the mine's owner told Reuters.

Rossing Uranium Limited, which is majority owned by Anglo-Australian firm Rio Tinto, sells its uranium to nuclear power plants in the United States, Japan, South Korea and Sweden.

Graham Davidson, the general manager for operations at Rossing, said in a letter to Reuters that the company's board of directors only permits the sale of uranium for use in generating electricity.

"The government of Iran has held a 15 percent shareholding in Rossing Uranium Limited since 1975," he said. The U.S.-backed shah ruled Iran until the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"Representatives of the government of Iran routinely attend the Rossing board of directors meetings," Davidson said, adding that shareholders do not have "product off-take rights."

Davidson said there were no contracts with Iran for the sale of milled uranium oxide, better known as "yellowcake." The company has yet to respond to a question of whether Tehran had purchased any Rossing uranium in the past.

Yellowcake is not useable in bombs. It must be processed into uranium hexafluoride and then fed into centrifuges for high-speed purification to transform it into weapon fuel -- a complicated and time-consuming process.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and is intended to meet the country's growing power needs.

U.S. officials said they were not aware of Iran's stake in Rossing and a senior Iranian official in Tehran declined to comment.

An official at the State Department said it did not appear illegal for U.S. power companies to buy uranium from a company partly owned by Iran, but said it was worrying news.

Without knowing the specifics of this company's sales it is difficult to say how worrisome this case might be," the official said on condition of anonymity. "But it seems we have once again an example that could add credence to the overall picture that Iran is developing nuclear arms ... and that is troubling."

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) declined to comment.

The IAEA has reported that Iran has the technology to process and enrich uranium, though Tehran says it intends to make only low-grade enriched uranium fuel for power plants.

Davidson said: "All sales are subject to the condition that the material is used for peaceful purposes only, a condition which is closely monitored by the IAEA."

Rossing says its mine in the southern African state accounted for six percent of the world's uranium supply in 2003.

In June 2003, the IAEA said Iran had imported 1.8 tons of natural uranium from China and failed to declare it, as required under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The United States severed diplomatic ties with Iran and imposed a strict embargo on the Islamic republic after militant students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 and took its staff hostage.

The embargo remains in place and President Bush has branded Iran a member of an "axis of evil" of states seeking weapons of mass destruction, along with North Korea and pre-war Iraq.

Last week, Bush said he would not rule out the use of force as an option to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. (Additional reporting by Saul Hudson in Washington)

I think that De Klerk made an enormous strategic mistake when he entered into negotiations with Mandela and the ANC, instead of Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

Even if Mandela and his party had the support of a majority of South Africans-based to a large extent upon their record of opposition to the Afrikaner government-I don't believe that disenfranchising millions of citizens who fell outside of their prospective constituency-including white descendants of the Boers or Brits who had settled there years before, biracial citizens, East Indians who had come there with the British Empire, Jews, and a substantial portion of conservative Bantus-was a wise decision, in retrospect.

Better send in Joe Wilson to get to the bottom of this.

Interestingly enough, Joe Wilson's already "been there, done that":

What I Didn't Find in Africa by Joseph C. Wilson 4th - 7/6/2003 - NYT
[snip] Then, in January, President Bush, citing the British dossier, repeated the charges about Iraqi efforts to buy uranium from Africa. The next day, I reminded a friend at the State Department of my trip and suggested that if the president had been referring to Niger, then his conclusion was not borne out by the facts as I understood them. He replied that perhaps the president was speaking about one of the other three African countries that produce uranium: Gabon, South Africa or Namibia. At the time, I accepted the explanation. I didn't know that in December, a month before the president's address, the State Department had published a fact sheet that mentioned the Niger case.[/snip]

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:H0UYZtGyVDsJ:www.miningaustralia.com.au/articles/72/0c010a72.asp+namibia+uranium&hl=en

Paladin acquires Langer Heinrich uranium project in Namibia

Paladin Resources has completed the acquisition of the Langer Heinrich uranium project in Namibia from Aztec Resources (formerly Acclaim Resources).

General Mining and Finance Corporation (Gencor), the giant South African mining house, completed extensive and detailed work since discovery in 1973, including commissioning of a test pilot plant in Johannesburg, which operated successfully for 18 months in the late 1970s. Subsequently, the Langer Heinrich project was placed on care and maintenance due to the depressed market outlook.

“The extensive amount of high quality work undertaken by Gencor over this time now provides very sound ore resource, ore processing, mining and engineering studies from which Paladin can progress development of this exciting project,” the company said in a released statement.

A prefeasibility study carried out by Acclaim, which purchased the property from Gencor in 1998, concluded that completion of a bankable feasibility study was strongly justified to evaluate viability for an open cut mining operation to produce a 1,000tpa U308 (average grade 0.11%) over a 10 to 11 year in mine life.

A four month evaluation program is under way to examine all Gencor and Acclaim findings on the project to determine a more appropriate, technically focussed and cost effective bankable feasibility study. Paladin believes that the Acclaim 1999 pre-feasibility study indicates the project is capable of strong returns with an IRR of 53% and an NPV (at 10%) of US$37m on projected sales of US$14/lb uranium oxide. The capital cost for the project is estimated to be approximately US$46m. Production costs of US$5.70/lb as identified in this study place the Langer Heinrich project in the lowest operating cost quartile, indicating strong potential for development considering improving uranium market prices.

Paladin is confident it will achieve significant cost savings and optimisation for a potential mining operation, resulting in the development of a much more streamlined bankable feasibility study.

Early results are clearly showing the project has merits not previously recognised. Funding for the bankable feasibility study is available in part via attractive loan arrangements from the Namibian government.

With the recent acquisition of the Langer Heinrich deposit, Paladin believes that, in combination with Kayelekera, it has control of the two most advanced uranium projects in Africa. Between them these projects could potentially produce 2,000tpa of uranium oxide, which would place Paladin in the top five producers in the world.

Paladin believes the acquisition of the Langer Heinrich project further expands its quality uranium portfolio and that this is a timely development, considering the significant strengthening of uranium prices for the first time in nearly a decade, indicating that the market has capacity to absorb new supply.

9 September 2002

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