The government of South Korea wants to buy uranium from Namibia, Ambassador Han Hwa-Ghil, who is based in Pretoria, told Namibian Foreign Minister Hidipo Hamutenya on Wednesday.
”South Korea operates 16 nuclear power plants. We want to use uranium for peaceful purposes such as energy”, Han said after his courtesy call on Hamutenya.
The Seoul government would not supply North Korea with uranium, should the deal with Namibia become reality, Han said.
Namibia operates the world’s largest open pit uranium mine, Roessing Uranium Ltd. Its biggest shareholder is Rio Tinto Zinc, with a 68,47% holding.
Roessing Uranium is situated 70km east of the coastal town of Swakopmund in the Namib Desert.
Operations started in 1979 with an annual production of 4 500 tons.
Falling uranium prices in recent years have forced Roessing, the world’s fifth largest uranium producer, to scale down production and reduce staff.
In 2002, the mine produced 2 751 tons of uranium oxide and had 800 employees.
Spot prices for uranium are currently nine dollars a pound of ore. – Sapa-AFP