Hard issue
Orano’s desalination plant is key to water provision in Namibia.
Orano: worth its salt
A sizeable proportion of the Namibian population on the west coast is dependent on water provided by
a desalination plant owned by a mining company. During a recent road trip to Namibia, editor Leon Louw
visited Orano Mining Namibia’s Erongo Desalination Plant.
T
he west coast of Namibia is a harsh environment. It is hot,
cold, dry, wet, and windy — all in one day. The mist belt that
gathers precipitation from the icy Benguela Current (which
flows north and hugs the coast of this ancient desert) sustains the
isolated patches of biological life that survives the sandy moon
landscape. The mist drops its sustenance in the morning, for almost
300 days of the year. Its reach is limited though, and the moist bank
of misty clouds stretches for only 20km inland, before it dissipates in
the severe Namibian sun.
Towns like Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, and the fishing village
Henties Bay (all in the Erongo region), have sprung up within this
mist belt. Half-hearted green Salt Bushes, Dollar Bushes, and a
range of orange, red and off-green lichens dot the flat earth close to
the ocean. Beyond this vegetation belt, which is maintained by the
mist, lies the almost unending drylands. It is here where most of
Namibia’s s uranium is found, in abundance. Several uranium mines
have been developed in the region, including Paladin Energy’s
Langer Heinrich, Rio Tinto’s Rössing, and Swakop Uranium’s
Husab Mine. Before the 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima in
Japan, nuclear energy was part of most countries’ energy plans,
the uranium price was sky-high, and the mines of Namibia were
feasting on their gargantuan resources.
Today, however, the mills have slowed down and most uranium
operations are avoiding care and maintenance by the skin of their
34 AFRICAN MINING JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2019
teeth. The biggest shareholder in Husab is the China General
Nuclear Power Company (CGNP) (the other 10% is owned by
the government of Namibia). CGNP also buys its uranium from
Husab, which means that the mine is guaranteed of an offtake
partner for at least the next 10–20 years. Husab alone employs
more than 1 620 people. Nevertheless, mines (even when on care
and maintenance), towns, people, and industry need water — a
natural resource not as abundant in the desert as the acclaimed
uranium. In fact, Swakopmund and Henties Bay suffered from
severe water shortages not too long ago, as the Omdel aquifer,
which provided the surrounding areas with groundwater, started
running dry.
Desalination to the rescue
These towns and most working mines were saved, however, by
the inauguration of the Erongo Desalination Plant (EDP) in
2010. The plant is able to produce about 20 million cubic metres
of potable water each year (currently it is producing 12 million
cubic metres of water). It is the first, and remains one of the very
few, desalination facilities to be built in southern Africa and is
located in the village of Wlotzkasbaken, about 30km north of
Swakopmund. State entity NamWater taps into the treatment
facility’s water production and distributes it to Swakopmund
and surrounds. Ironically, the desalination plant was initially
constructed by a mining company; it was never intended to
provide the Erongo region with drinking water.
www.africanmining.co.za