By Kingsley Jassi:
Lotus Resources has said it has secured an approval for its Environmental Sustainability Impact Assessment (ESIA) for the Kayelekera Uranium Mine from the Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (Mepa).
But Mepa Director General Wilfred Kadewa could not provide any information ‘until official release of the results and issuance of ESIA certificate.’
In a statement issued recently, Lotus Resources hinted at being notified of the approval, a major leap towards the mine’s reopening.
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But the miner said was yet to get the certificate.
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“We have been working very constructively with Mepa and we are very pleased that this approval, a critical milestone, has now been received. We look forward to working with Mepa to finalise the issuing of the ESIA certificate for the restart of Kayelekera production,” the statement reads.
The mine will be running on diesel power, emitting 8 000 metric tons of carbon every year for up to seven years, adding on the 7 500 metric tons to be emitted by its fleet of vehicles to be used at the mine.
However, the company says this will still be much less with peer mines.
This level of carbon emission will further reduce significantly once the mine is connected to the national grid as the company already signed a power purchase agreement worth $20.6 million with Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi.
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Meanwhile, Lotus expects the cost of uranium production per unit to increase partiall, from $29.1 per pound, as projected in the definitive feasibility study, to $34.5, due to the use of diesel power.
