JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Southern Africa’s uranium production capacity was expected to expand significantly by 2016, reaching about 21 260 t, up from 6 628 t in 2010, as new expansion programmes became fully operational, consulting firm Frost & Sullivan reported on Thursday.

“Increasing foreign direct investment and the expansion of uranium mines in Southern Africa will result in production levels rising sharply in the medium-to-long term. Major international mining companies are making significant efforts to boost uranium production through the enhancement of expansion and exploration programmes in Southern Africa,” Frost & Sullivan mining research analyst Yeukayi Kadzere remarked.

Frost & Sullivan stated that rising uranium prices and the growing demand for nuclear energy from emerging economies have resulted in significant investment in the uranium mining industry in the region.

Its recent ‘Production and Investment Forecasts for the Uranium Mining Industry in Southern Africa’ report indicated that new uranium mines were being developed and existing ones expanded to cope with the surging demand.

The research also revealed that there were 13 uranium development projects collectively worth $8.65-billion in the Southern African region, covering Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Mozambique.

Namibia, Malawi and South Africa were found to be the largest uranium producers in the region, while Botswana and Mozambique were likely to soon become significant uranium producers.

“Spiralling global energy requirements and the need to diversify the energy mix to reduce dependence on coal and oil have resulted in increased demand for uranium in the past decade. The Southern African region is perfectly positioned to benefit from these trends due to its extensive uranium deposits,” Kadzere noted.

The firm further highlighted that the heightened demand for nuclear energy, particularly in emerging economies such as China and India, as well as the strong emphasis on reducing carbon emissions, would accelerate the development of uranium projects in Southern Africa.

These trends were anticipated to push up uranium prices, while advancing the development of Southern Africa’s uranium mines between 2012 and 2015.

However, Frost & Sullivan pointed out that a key concern would be to avoid another incident similar to Fukushima, which has raised public fears about the safety of nuclear energy and uranium.

“In addition, inexpensive and safer substitutes, such as thorium, could present serious challenges for the uranium mining industry in the long term,” Kadzere warned.