Etango commissions demo plant

Bannerman Resources Limited, this week announced the successful completion of the construction and official opening of the Etango Heap Leach Demonstration Plant by Mr Patrick Elungu, Chief Inspector: Regional Services, Ministry of Mines and Energy and Dr Wotan Swiegers, Director of the Namibian Uranium Institute.

The commissioning of the Demonstration Plant is a significant milestone as Bannerman continues to progress the development of the Etango Project.
Bannerman’s Chief Executive Officer, Len Jubber said, “The commissioning of the Demonstration Plant coincides with the Chinese government approving construction of two more units at the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning province, marking the first approval for new reactors in four years. China, currently the largest constructor of new reactors clearly continues to ramp up its nuclear energy program in line with its stated goal of increasing electricity generated from nuclear plants from 21 GW currently to 58 GW by 2020 and 150 GW by 2030. In terms of reactors, China now has 24 reactors in operation, 25 under construction and 189 on order, planned or proposed.”
The operation of the Demonstration Plant will form an integral step of the detailed engineering and financing phases and specifically enables Bannerman to demonstrate the design and projected performance reflected in the Definitive Feasibility Study, maintain and build project knowledge, and pursue value engineering according to Jubber.
“Initial testing will focus on demonstrating the definitive feasibility study design and projected performance and will progress to value engineering in due course. Additionally a 3,000 tonne ore sample presents an opportunity to conduct testing for up to three years. The material was crushed to the ore-feed specification assumed in the Definitive Feasibility Study and will be blended to reflect the assumed ex-pit ore-feed to the planned heap leach operation,” Jubber explained.