Completion Date: August 2010

The Trekkopje Uranium Project in the desert Erongo region of namibia is a low-grade, shallow uranium deposit that is mined by open cast methods. with the lack of groundwater and surface water resources and the abundantly rich mineral reserves in the area, as well as the associated water intensive nature of mineral extraction, desalination was the only viable solution to support the development of Areva Resources uranium mine.

The seawater desalination plant, which was won against stiff international competition, was designed and constructed by Aveng Water and is the first significant plant to be constructed in Southern Africa.

It is capable of delivering 20 million m3 year of treated water that is pumped approximately 50km in an overland pipeline to the Trekkopje mining site. The intake system draws sea water from the ocean, 1km offshore and caters for a future potential water demand of 45 million m3 year.

Located approximately 30km north of Swakopmund, the plant began delivering water in march 2010 in preparation for mine activities, and is being operated and maintained under contract by Aveng Water until 2020.

The Atlantic Ocean along the Namibian coastline is nutrient rich, containing plankton, other sea life and is subject to incidence of red tide. the trend worldwide is to use advanced pre-treatment systems with difficult water, in order to lower the overall cost of the process and produce reliable performance. In this case, Aveng Water uses Norit’s X-Flow ultrafiltration membranes to maximise the efficiency of the pre-treatment processes. eleven parallel ultrafiltration trains are installed, followed by nine parallel reverse osmosis trains.

Located approximately 30km north of Swakopmund, the plant began delivering water in March 2010 in preparation for mine activities, and is being operated and maintained under contract by Aveng Water until 2020.