French group to hand over desalination plant to Namibia

French nuclear group Areva will hand over a desalination plant to the Namibian government, the country's Chamber of Mines said Thursday.

Veston Malango, the Chamber's Chief Executive Officer, told a media briefing in Windhoek that the hand-over will be done through NamWater.

The desalination plant, which is at Wlotzkasbaken, about 30 km from the coastal town of Swakopmund in Erongo region, is said to be the largest in southern Africa.

It was built at a cost of three billion Namibian dollars (270 million U.S. dollars) to supply water to Areva's Trekkopje uranium mine.

The plant produces 20 million cubic meters of potable water per annum, enough to allow Areva to operate the Trekkopje mine without pumping any water from the ground.

Excess production will serve the local communities and industrial activities.

Already, Areva signed contracts with NamWater in 2013 for the distribution of excess water to three uranium mines in the Erongo region - Rio Tinto's Rossing, Paladin Energy's Langer Heinrich and Swakop Uranium's Husab mines.

According to Malango, the Areva desalination plant will ease the supply of water, which is one of the challenges facing the mining industry in Namibia. Endi