Areva to Get Offer From Namibia for Desalination Plant

Published on by in Business

Areva to Get Offer From Namibia for Desalination Plant

Namibia's Government Will Offer to BuyAreva SA's Water Desalination Plant in the Country, Built at a Cost of 3 Billion Namibian Dollars

Namibia will table an offer to wholly acquire the 20 million cubic meter water desalination plant, which Paris-based Areva built with initial plans to secure supplies to its Trekkopje uranium project in the country, which has been mothballed because of low uranium prices.

"Cabinet has made a decision for us to acquire that plant, we are busy with technicalities before we make an offer," Joseph Iita, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, said in a telephone interview in the capital Windhoek, yesterday.

Namibia, the world's fourth-largest uranium producer, is running short of water for the coastal towns of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund and Henties Bay, as sources in the semi-arid region such as Omaruru Delta and the Kuiseb River aquifers dwindle.

Much of Namibia is covered by the Namib and Kalahari deserts.

A negotiating team is being set up and the plant will be handed over to state-owned water utility, Namibia Water Corp., once the deal is completed, Iita said.

"We can't have water in the hands of a private company, it's a resource that's supposed to belong to the government," he said.

Areva said it will only comment once the offer is made official.

"Once we know what they want, when we have seen the offer, we will be able to comment," Hilifa Mbako, the managing director for Areva's Namibian operation, said in a telephone interview in Windhoek.

The plant is supplying about 10 million cubic meters of water toPaladin Energy Ltd. (PDN)'s Langer Heinrich mine,Rio Tinto Plc (RIO)'s Rossing Mine and China General Nuclear Power Holding Corp's Husab mine. All of the mines produce uranium.

Source: Bloomberg

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy