Mine excursion
size, and has returned high recoveries,” says
Marais.
A question of water
AfriTin has acquired a thickener to recover
water from the tailings to ensure they recover
as much of the process water as possible.
“Water is a scarce commodity in this area,
and we will have to look at the re-use and
preservation of water very closely,” says Van
der Westhuizen. “We will have extremely
good water recoveries, so the tailings are
really like dry sand by the time it exits the
plant,” Marais adds.
Community issues and more deals
There are about 144 residents in Uis, most of
them retirees from countries such as Germany,
Italy, Belgium, and Austria, and they are not
necessarily pro-mining. Accommodation in
town is a problem and the water supply to Uis
is not sufficient to accommodate 30 or more
Uis is located in an extremely dry environment
(the area is classified as a desert) and the
availability of water is always a concern.
However, according to Johan van der
Westhuizen, resident engineer for phase one
of the AfriTin project, there is more than
enough water available. “We have drilled
eight holes and we found water in all of them.
There is more than enough water available for
the processing plant during phase one,” says
Van der Westhuizen. “Phase two is a bigger
operation but we hope to use all the knowledge
and information we gathered in phase one, and
duplicate it in the next phase,” he adds.
When Iscor mined the Uis deposit, they
sourced most of their water from the pump
station at Omaruru, about 64km to the
east. That capacity still exists, but Van der
Westhuizen says that the pipelines are in need
of an upgrade. “In addition, we have appointed
a hydrologist to investigate developing an
additional well field close to the pumping
scheme, which AfriTin will then develop in
partnership with the Namibian Department
of Water Affairs. There are a number of
possibilities; the source at the Ugab River
can also be tapped into [as] that water is not
utilised for anything at the moment,” says Van
der Westhuizen.
AfriTin is also exploring the opportunity of
tapping into the biggest desalination plant in
southern Africa, which is currently operated
by Areva and is relatively close to the plant.
The pegmatite belt in the Uis region extends up to 60m in places.
[18] MINING MIRROR MAY 2019
www.miningmirror.co.za