Malawi expected to produce 1.7 percent of global uranium

Malawi is set to contribute 1.7 percent of global uranium production once the country's Kayalekera Uranium Project (KUP) starts producing uranium oxide in late 2008, the Australian mining firm Paladin said on Monday.

Paladin, which the Malawi government has granted a mining license for the uranium project, said in a statement that Malawi would from late next year be producing up to 3.3 million pounds (1, 500 tons) of uranium oxide every year for a period of seven years.

"Converted into electricity production, 3.3 million pounds of uranium is enough to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity each year," the company stated.

Currently, Malawi produces 275 megawatts of hydro-powered electricity every year.

The mining firm, which is also operating a uranium mining project in Namibia, said Malawi would late next year join a select group of countries that produce clean nuclear energy.

The Malawi government recently granted Paladin exclusive mining contract of its 11,000 tons of uranium deposits which is projected to earn the country about 200 million U.S. dollars every year for the expected 10-year mining life span.

The uranium deposits are located on a 55.5 square km stretch of land at Kayalekera in Malawi's northern border district of Karonga, located about 300 km north of the capital Lilongwe.

The Malawi government's plans to mine the uranium have been heavily criticized by local civil society groups who argued that it would expose people living within the vicinity of the mine to dangers of radiation and toxic chemicals used in the separation of uranium ore.

The government has nonetheless parried away the civil society claims, saying necessary precautions will be taken to avoid any hazards on people's lives and the environment.

Malawi's high-grade sandstone uranium deposits were discovered in the 1980s by a British mining firm, the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), which showed interest to mine the uranium but later decided against it due to low global uranium prices at the time.