Valencia Uranium Mine in the Erongo Region has marked its first official blast since the company acquired an Exclusive Prospecting Licence in 2005.
The first official blast resulted in a celebration at the Valencia uranium mine, located about 40 kilometres from Arandis.
After acquiring the EPL in 2005, substantial work was undertaken until 2009, when the company was issued a mining licence.
But in 2011, there was a crash in uranium prices, making the project uneconomical.
Despite the challenges, the mine's country director says exploration with intensive drilling continued, and hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in the project.
But the project went on care and maintenance in 2015 due to a prolonged decrease in uranium prices.
However, since the recovery of prices in 2021, funds have been raised to restart the project.
"Since 2022 to date, we have invested a further N$100 million into the project. During 2023, we re-evaluated our primary processing methods to reduce capital and operating costs. The blast we witnessed today is part of our next phase, involving large column test work," says Valencia Mine Country Director Pine van Wyk.
The chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Tjekero Tweya, indicated that the official first blast could have already taken place if it had not been delayed by bureaucratic processes in government.
"They have been spending money, and they could not get the go-ahead to the next level. We came to find it for ourselves. The reality is different from what we were told; they were waiting because those are the procedures. We must change the way we treat investors because our conduct is actually chasing them away by frustrating them for spending, and nothing comes off that spending, but from today's jubilation, at least that bottleneck is now opened."
When the mine starts operating, more than 1,000 job opportunities will be available, and the Arandis mayor, Risto Kapendah, is hopeful that employees will live in the town.
"Every day, we want to see all those buses coming from Arandis, that's why we made a provision of cheap land for housing at the mine, specifically. For every employee who picks up a house and is employed by the mines, we charge them not more than 70 dollars per square meter. This is to make sure that all the mine workers are housed in Arandis."
The first blast at Valencia is a crucial step before the team starts the detailed design of the heap leach system and completes the engineering for the uranium recovery plant.