Thursday, 31 July 2025
The pilot uranium processing plant has been commissioned by Rosatom subsidiary Mantra Tanzania Ltd at the Mkuju River project in southern Tanzania.
The plant, located at the Nyota deposit, will be used to test uranium processing technologies and inform the design of the main processing complex with a production capacity of up to 3,000 tonnes of uranium per year. Its construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2026, with commissioning scheduled for 2029.
The official pilot plant commissioning ceremony was attended by government officials led by Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania’s President, who said: “This is a landmark achievement for our country. For the first time, Tanzania is stepping onto the global uranium map with the capacity to supply a strategic mineral that is essential for safe and sustainable energy generation worldwide.”
According to Tanzania’s Ministry of Minerals the “strategic project is set to transform” the country’s “mining and energy landscape, opening new doors for foreign investment, clean energy solutions and high-value technological advancements”. It said the government holds a 20% stake “projected to earn USD40 million annually in dividends, channelled into national development projects”, and hundreds of direct and indirect jobs would be created.
It said that Tanzania will enter the list of the top 10 uranium-producing nations.
Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom director general, said the corporation was helping to develop Tanzania’s “unique geological potential … as with all our partners, we intend to build cooperation with the Republic on the basis of equality and mutual understanding. At the same time, in its activities, Rosatom is always guided by the principles of sustainable development with unconditional compliance with high environmental and social standards. We will be happy to help Tanzania take an important step towards integration into the global nuclear energy industry”.
The proposed environmental protection system for the project includes real-time ecosystem monitoring, closed-loop water supply systems with water recycling, and biodiversity conservation programmes, Rosatom said.
The Mkuju River project is owned by Mantra Tanzania Ltd. and is located in the Namtumbo district of the Ruvuma region. Mantra Tanzania is part of Rosatom subsidiary Uranium One Group which is an international mining group of companies which also has assets in Kazakhstan and Namibia.
