In Feature
conversation with
Angula Kalili:
mining’s in his blood
The Husab Mine, close to Swakopmund in Namibia, is one of the top uranium producers in the
world. Leon Louw chatted to Angula Kalili, the chief operating officer at Swakop Uranium, to learn
more about this mine.
Angula, you were born and bred in Namibia; how did your mining
journey start?
I went to primary school in Oranjemund, a small mining town in the
south of Namibia. Oranjemund is a diamond operation partially owned
by De Beers and the Namibian government (Namdeb). Because there
was no high school in Oranjemund, I had to move to Windhoek, the
capital of Namibia, where I attended Concordia High School.
After high school, I enrolled for a Bachelor of Science degree at the
University of Namibia, but in my second year, I decided to study
mining engineering instead and moved to Johannesburg to attend
Wits University, where I graduated in 2000. After university, I joined
AngloGold’s (today AngloGold Ashanti) Navachab gold mine in
Namibia, moved to the company’s Geita gold mine in Tanzania five
years later, and after two years, I moved to Mali to work at Sadiola.
Two years later, I was back in Namibia when Areva (today
Orano Mining) began to develop the Trekkopje uranium mine
close to Swakopmund. When the project was put on care and
maintenance because of the low uranium price, I moved back
to Navachab, then did another four-year stint at Geita, before
returning to Namibia to take up the position of chief operating
officer at Swakop Uranium’s Husab uranium project.
And the owners of Husab are Chinese?
Husab is owned by Swakop Uranium which, in turn, has two
major shareholders, namely the Namibian government-owned
Epangelo Mining, which holds 10%, while a Hong Kong-listed
company, Taurus Minerals, owns the other 90%. Sixty per cent
of Taurus Minerals is owned by China General Nuclear Power
Group (CGN) and 40% by the China Development Fund.
Angula Kalili, chief
operating officer at
Swakop Uranium.
16 AFRICAN MINING JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2019
www.africanmining.co.za