Uranium Mining Projects In Tanzania: Progress...

November 10, 2009

Uranex Is Now Focussing On Getting Early Production From Its Manyoni Uranium Project In Tanzania
By Charles Wyatt

It is a funny old world in uranium exploration at the moment. The spot price of U3O8 won’t attack the US$50 per pound, mark despite the recent problems at Olympic Dam, and yet the development of new nuclear power stations around the world hardly faltered when the world’s finances hit the buffers towards the end of last year. Terry Ward, chairman of ASX-listed Uranex, is on a quick trip to London and his views are always worth listening to as he was in uranium last time around. In fact he was general manager of Mary Kathleen Uranium, a subsidiary of RTZ, and thus involved in talks with the Chinese in the early 1970s. And the relationship with China has continued, as Uranex signed a letter of intent with the Department of Overseas Uranium Resources Investment, part of China National Nuclear Corporation, back in 2006. This binds Uranex into a close working relationship with the Chinese for the exploration, development exploitation of potential uranium projects worldwide.

Terry confirms that this arrangement is still in place even though Uranex has made little mention of it lately. The reason for this is that the Chinese see no reason to hasten matters as Uranex will not be in production until 2012 at the earliest, and what they are really interested in is tying up sources of production. Leading the field in this respect is the Manyoni project in central Tanzania on which a pre-feasibility study should be completed before Christmas

Source: Minesite.com

It is another good news to Mafisadi and sad news kwa wenyeji wa Idodoma.

Nawapa pole, maana sasa watafanywa watumwa. Ile Dodoma wine waliiuwa hivi hivi tu, sasa wamepewa Uranium. Sasa na Rais atahamia kabisaaa Idodoma. lol

Mungu Ibariki Tanzania

Hii taasisi ya Geological Survey Tanzania inabidi iwe ina update information kwenye web yao bana.

Hamna report wala news! Inasikitisha.

Check website yao kwenye media part: http://www.gst.go.tz/media.html, link wala hazifunguki, wakati nchi ni miongoni mwa nchi chache zenye madini na uchimbaji mkubwa kuliko, au ni sera za chama tawala ili watu tusijue kinachoendelea kutokana na mikataba mingi iliyo mibovu?!!

SteveD said:

Hii taasisi ya Geological Survey Tanzania inabidi iwe ina update information kwenye web yao bana.

Hamna report wala news! Inasikitisha.

Check website yao kwenye media part: http://www.gst.go.tz/media.html, link wala hazifunguki, wakati nchi ni miongoni mwa nchi chache zenye madini na uchimbaji mkubwa kuliko, au ni sera za chama tawala ili watu tusijue kinachoendelea kutokana na mikataba mingi iliyo mibovu?!!

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Mkuu, si unajuwa tena,

Hawapo tayari kuwafunguwa macho watu, si, itakuwa hatari kubwa. Nchi imejaa dhambi, kila ofisi imejaa ufisadi, basi ni kazi kweli kweli.

Hata public information lazima utoe hongo,

Sugar wa Ukweli said:

Mungun ibariki Tanzania,may be in future kutakuwa hakuna mgao wa umeme Tanzania!!

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"My dear Sugar labda kizazi cha mafisadi chote kife,mgao utaendelea na kuzidi kabisa"

Kugundulika kwa madini na wakoloni katika chi hii ni laana kubwa kwa Watanzania. Si kwa watu wa Dodoma pekee.Tanzania ni nchi ya ajabu sana na imejaa viongozi vibaraka wa wakoloni. Nasema Vibaraka wenye roho mbaya. Wasiojali utajiri wetu wala shida za wananchi. Vibaraka hawa wanapashwa kuhukumiwa na watanzania mara moja.

napokea simu kutoka kwa mwanasayansi wa denmark

mwanasayansi: hallo kijana nasikia mgondi wa uranium unaanzishwa tz?
mimi : ndio mwanasayansi

mwanasayansi:kijana tumejarimu kuwatetea katika tume ya mionzi duniani
tumeshindwa kwani ni mradi mkubwa sana ata bush pia ana
hisa pia
mimi : kwani uwekezaji huu una matatizo gani mpaka kwenu?

mwanasayansi:haa kijana unafahamu mimi niliwai kufanya tafiti nyingi tz
kipindi cha rais wenu nyerere, lakini sasa tunasikia mradi
utaanza kwenu lakini kumbuka ukianza baada ya miaka 20
watu wengi wataumwa kansa na magonjwa yanayotokana
na mionzi sasa kwa sisi atupendi kuona mnakufa

mimi : baada ya kusikia hivyo niliwasiliana na wahusika lalkini jibu
nililopata kuwa mradi utalete fedha za kigeni na ajira, sisi
tutapata mrahaba wa asilimia 6% wao watachukua 94%
watapunguza pia maddhara ya mionzi


JAMANI TUTAPONA KWELIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ?

Hata hueleweki sasa huyo mwanasayansi sijui nani alikurupuka tu kukupigia simu! Au umeitunga wewe mwenyewe?

arghhh...mie naomba hata hii inchi ingekaliwa na wakoloni tujuwe kabsaaa hakuna mswahili anayetunyonya zaidi ya mkoloni ili tupambaner naye kumngoa...ila sasa inaniumiza kichwa kuwa watzania wenzetu ndio wanaiuza nchi na kutuua watu wake...just for an peanut...

hii uranium watachimba wananchi tutakufa sana na mrahaba hautokuwa tofauti na wa dhahabu na kero zitakuwa kubwa hasa ukichukulia na rais mstaafu wa marekani ni muhusika wa hili deal la kiuaji...MUNGU IBARIKI TANZANIA ATOKEE SECOND NYERERE....WATU WAKO TUNAKUFAAAAA....

Watanzania tuna tatizo moja kubwa sana na labda hatujielewi au ni hulka yetu. Mara nyingi huwa tunajaribu kujjenga hoja hata kwenye mambo tusiyoyajua au mtu anasoma wikipedia in 3 mins tayari anajifanya ni expert of the matter

Bottom line madhara ya Uranium ni makubwa mno, kupita kiasi. Na Tanzania tu wazembe na hatujali wanananchi wazalendo. Sembuse kule North Mara wazalendo innocent ambao wanaishi chini ya dola moja kwa siku wamesulubiwa bila huruma, ikiwemo viumbe hai na serikali kimya, kuunda tume za kula pesa na reports doctored!!

Madhara ya uranium ni mabaya zaidi ha hakuna wa kujali hapa. Noamba wote to google the impact of uranium on living things then mlete hapa tujioneeeeeeeeee. Na mwishowe hatutafaidi kitu kama vile hatufaidi pia kwa natura resources nyinginezo. Poor danganyika, loo nasikitika nimezaliwa huku, japo pia singependa kuzaliwa nchi kama Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, na nyingine jamii ya hizo lakini pia hata ile yenye baadhi ya viongozi wasiojua kujumlisha na kutoa inapokuja citizens affair basi ni kundi hilo hilo tu.

Wakuu hapa hatupati kitu, vitalu vya uranium vingi vilikuwa chini ya jeshi..wakina mboma saizi ambaye yupo TPDC..what a coincidence... walishagawana na kuuza zamaaanni...hapa tunatoka bila bila!

Huyo mwanasayansi alitaka wapewe wao deal au anatuhofia sisi? Why is he so interested with our lives wakati watu ulaya mashariki wanakufa kwa mambo madogo madogo tu?

Waafrika tuachane na fikra mgando, si kila mzungu ni padre,wengine wauza unga tu.

Heeeee..... Itabid watu tufunge na kusali kuomba haya yasitokee.

Bubu Ataka Kusema said:

Cameco said uranium spot prices averaged $125.83 US per pound in the second quarter of 2007, compared to $43.42 US in the same quarter of 2006.

New hope for uranium wealth in Dar

By WILFRED EDWIN
Special Correspondent

Tanzania is set to experience a flurry of activities in its mining industry as recent explorations have identified uranium rich sandstone formations in the country.

Two foreign exploring companies — Uranium Resources Plc, a uranium mining company focusing on Southern Africa, and Australia-based Western Metals Ltd — said last week that “recent exploration results have been highly encouraging and indicate the economic potential of the region.”

The companies, currently undertaking a joint venture, Mtonya Uranium project in the country, said they had entered “a very exciting phase of exploration” for the mineral, whose world demand is outstripping supply.

The initial reconnaissance drilling at the Mtonya Uranium project has identified uranium hosted in sandstone units similar to those found at neighbouring Malawi’s Kayelekera uranium project.

Western Metals is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, while Uranium Resources Plc is listed on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

The joint venture says the initial first pass-drilling programme has “achieved its aim of identifying significant subsurface uranium mineralisation in the Mtonya JV licence areas.”

James Pratt, an official of Uranium Resources, told The EastAfrican from the United Kingdom last week: “The joint venture is now positioned to progress its exploration activities aggressively over the remainder of 2007 and beyond.”

Drilling will recommence in August with a view to further testing the anomalies and following up the initial results, and apart from the drilling, an extensive trenching, sampling and mapping programme will be undertaken.

According to Mr Pratt, uranium operations are complicated as safety and environmental precautions are involved, and as such, commissioning of the mines could take up to five years if all goes well. He said the project has already consumed about $1 million.

Dr Peter Kafumu, the Commissioner for Minerals at the Ministry for Energy and Minerals, confirmed last week that the companies have been granted uranium exploration licences and are currently engaged in uranium exploration.

Industrial sources say the present world demand for uranium is outstripping supply and about a third of annual demand for uranium is being met by declining inventories and Russia’s highly enriched uranium weapons decommissioning.

The Sydney-based Resource Capital Research sees a bullish outlook for the uranium market and has predicted that the uranium price will reach $125/lb this year and may escalate to $140/lb by September 2008.

The major application of uranium in the military sector is in making high profile weapons, whereas its main civilian use is to fuel commercial nuclear power plants. Experts say by the time it is completely fissioned, one kilogramme of uranium can theoretically produce about 20 trillion joules of energy, or as much electricity as 1,500 tonnes of coal.

Currently, 17 per cent of world electricity is generated through uranium, but still its demand is hardly met by the supply. Global electricity demand is growing rapidly. Even with effective energy efficiency programmes in developed countries, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects global electricity consumption to double by 2030.

If indeed the uranium exploration develops into “full commodity availability,” it will definitely become one of Tanzania’s more important foreign exchange earners, analysts predict.

This prediction is bolstered by the fact that there has been little exploration for 25 years and no new mines built outside Canada for the past 20 years, and that there is not enough uranium capacity to satisfy existing plants — crucially, new uranium deposits need to be put into production now.

Experts say despite the favourable geology for uranium deposits and several known occurrences, the average historical expenditure on uranium exploration in Tanzania has been $4 per square km, compared with $16 per square km in the West Africa and $224 per square km in the United States.

They say Tanzania has also favourable regulatory and stable political conditions for exploration, as evidenced by the boom in its gold mining sector in the past 10 years as well as the strong investment in nickel, platinum and coal exploration.

Western Metals has an agreement with Uranium Resources plc including the Mtonya Project in Tanzania where it predicts it can earn 60 per cent profits by spending $4 million.

It also has a 42.5 per cent interest in an additional 10,413 sq km of tenements in Tanzania, bringing the license area to 13,851 sq km with a further 211 sq km under a 45 per cent joint venture.

George Bauk, Western Metal managing director, and Willie Rowe of Gryphon Management Australia said in an update announcement posted at the company’s website that the results of the reconnaissance are considered encouraging, and that “Western Metals is entering a very exciting phase of exploration in Tanzania.”

“Several anomalous areas identified will require further detailed exploration during the second half of 2007 including drilling and detailed airborne radiometric surveys. Assay results of samples and details of sites visited will be released when they are received.”

Uranium Resources has primarily concentrated on expanding and developing its portfolio of uranium licences in the highly prospective Karoo Basin in the Southern Tanzania where it currently has a land package in excess of 7,600 sq km.

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Hayo niliyowekea rangi nyekundu ndio tatizo letu. Jamaa wanatusifia, ati tuna favourable regulatory!!! Si waseme tu kwamba tunaachia vitu bure? I hate it! Nimekuwa mining for a number of years, I know what it means when they say we have "favourable regulatory" Shit! watatuona wapuuzi mpaka lini? Nachelea kusema sisi ni kondoo..ashkum sio matusi waungwana

Nakubaliana na suala moja tu kwa maelezo ya hapo juu, uranium ni hatari kwa afya. Ila sikubaliani na wazo la kwamba Tz inakubli kichwa kichwa tu. Ukiondoa almasi, uranium ina iingizia pesa nyingi Namibia na ni nchi iliyomo kwenye top 10 kwa uzalishaji wa uranium. Geologically, uranium ya Namibia (granite related mineralisation) ni hatari zaidi kwani miamba ipo nje (exposed on surface). Hii yetu ya Tanzania ambayo sawa na ya Malawi ni sedimentary related (Karoo sediments) na itachibwa kwa kumia liquid maalumu itako sukumwa aridhini itayeyusha na urojourojo wa liquid na uranium utasukumwa juu na kuwa na kuchenjuliwa.

EIA ni mara nyingi ina simawiwa na Atomic energy council....suala pesa zitazopatikana zitaingia kwa mafisadi au kwa wadanganyika??

Nyunyu said:

Heeeee..... Itabid watu tufunge na kusali kuomba haya yasitokee.

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we unafikiri hao wanaokuja kuchimba hawana dini eti....tena dini na Mungu wao mkali sana lazma watapata tu,,hata iweje...let sought to the scientific analysis first b4 venturing in a novena.....GOD BLESS POOR,BLESSED BUT FOOLISH TANZANIANS OR EVEN UNCARING TANZANIAN LEADERS....who donot care their employers(tanzanians) besides decide on their own interests....