Kayelekera Uranium Mine (the Project) is located in northern Malawi, approximately 650 km north of the capital city of Lilongwe and 52 km by road to the west of the lakeside town of Karonga.
The Kayelekera Mine was initially constructed by Paladin in 2007 and open pit mining and processing commenced in May 2008. Due to continued low uranium prices the Project was put in care and maintenance in 2015.
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In 2020, the Project was acquired by Lotus Resources with the intention to restart mining activities, initially focusing on higher grade materials (both mined from the pit and contained on historic surface stockpiles). The Project has a projected mine life of approximately 10 to 12 years.
SUMMARY
Dhamana has been involved with the Kayelekera Uranium Mine since 2021 providing Environmental support for the restart of production by Lotus.
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In 2024, Dhamana was engaged by Lotus with project management services and to manage the FEED for the project refurbishment, modifications and recommissioning. This work included scoping and managing the front-end engineering and design program along with detailed planning of the early works construction and main construction phases.
Early works construction will be focussed on works to refurbish the project infrastructure and to stabilise the process plant foundations. Along with refurbishment works, key modifications to the project include addition of ore sorting on the feed to the milling circuit, construction of a new sulphuric acid plant, expansion of the acid recovery nano-filtration circuit and reconstruction of the product handling area.
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The restart of the mine also includes the connection to the Malawian electricity grid and incorporation of renewables, solar and battery into the power system to reduce both power costs and the mine’s carbon footprint.
KEY SERVICES
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Project management of FEED along with detailed planning of early works construction, and refurbishment, modifications and recommissioning.
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Management of project activities including:
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Mining.
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Geotechnical design for both the mine and plant stabilisation.
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Process plant refurbishment and modifications.
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Tailings storage facility expansion.
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Site groundwater and surface water modelling and management.
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Power supply, including grid connection, renewables and diesel power station and site power distribution.
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Site infrastructure refurbishment.
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LOCATION
Malawi
YEAR
2021 - Present
