News / National
'Zimbabwe in no rush to exploit its uranium resources'
05 Mar 2013 at 04:37hrs | Views
Zimbabwe is not considering exploiting its uranium resources to generate electricity in the short term as it does not have the technical expertise to do so, Energy and Power Development permanent secretary Mr Partson Mbiriri has said.
The country is battling perennial power shortages with demand peaking at 2 200MW while supply generally hovers around 1 200 MW, a deficit which analysts say continues to inhibit economic revival efforts.
Discovery of uranium deposits in the country brought speculation that the resource would be exploited amid reports that China and Iran were interested in partnering Zimbabwe to extract the mineral.
Mr Mbiriri said the country was not in a rush to exploit the resource for power generation.
"Yes, we have uranium in the northeastern part of the country, but certainly in terms of science and technology and so on, we are not there yet and so it is really not a short-term solution at all to our current challenges in relation to electricity generation and supply," he said.
"It is important that we have this resource, certainly it can resolve medium- to long- term challenges but for now it really is not actively being considered."
Mr Mbiriri said the Government also did not have the financial resources to fund such capital-intensive projects.
To exploit the uranium, the Government would need to partner with those countries that have experience in mining the resource.
It is estimated that Zimbabwe holds more than 45 000 tonnes of uranium ore.
He said there were a number of power generation projects mainly using hydro and coal that were in the pipeline to address the current power deficit in the short term.
Zimbabwe expects the new projects to add power in the next three years.
Hopes are pinned on the expansion of Hwange and Kariba power stations to generate additional power.
The country is battling perennial power shortages with demand peaking at 2 200MW while supply generally hovers around 1 200 MW, a deficit which analysts say continues to inhibit economic revival efforts.
Discovery of uranium deposits in the country brought speculation that the resource would be exploited amid reports that China and Iran were interested in partnering Zimbabwe to extract the mineral.
Mr Mbiriri said the country was not in a rush to exploit the resource for power generation.
"Yes, we have uranium in the northeastern part of the country, but certainly in terms of science and technology and so on, we are not there yet and so it is really not a short-term solution at all to our current challenges in relation to electricity generation and supply," he said.
"It is important that we have this resource, certainly it can resolve medium- to long- term challenges but for now it really is not actively being considered."
Mr Mbiriri said the Government also did not have the financial resources to fund such capital-intensive projects.
To exploit the uranium, the Government would need to partner with those countries that have experience in mining the resource.
It is estimated that Zimbabwe holds more than 45 000 tonnes of uranium ore.
He said there were a number of power generation projects mainly using hydro and coal that were in the pipeline to address the current power deficit in the short term.
Zimbabwe expects the new projects to add power in the next three years.
Hopes are pinned on the expansion of Hwange and Kariba power stations to generate additional power.
Source - New Ziana.
