By Lot Ndamanomhata
In a revelation that is sending ripples through global energy markets, a significant new uranium deposit has been identified in Namibia’s Erongo Region, the country’s already legendary uranium belt.
For a nation that already supplies roughly 10% of the world’s uranium and holds the third spot among all uranium-producing nations, this discovery is not merely geological news: it is a geopolitical and economic event of the first order.
At a time when the world is scrambling for clean-energy fuels to power a nuclear revival, Namibia finds itself sitting on an ever-larger portion of the planet’s most critical atomic resource.
The Discovery: A New Target in “Alaskite Alley”
In November 2025, Canadian-listed exploration company ReeXploration Inc. (TSXV: REE) announced the identification of a large-scale uranium exploration target at its Eureka Project in the Erongo mining district of central Namibia.
Airborne geophysical surveys defined a striking 6.5 × 3.5 kilometre zone characterised by high uranium and low thorium radiometric responses, a classic signature of economically significant uranium mineralisation.
Field reconnaissance confirmed elevated uranium in outcropping leucogranites (also known as alaskites), with portable XRF readings reaching up to 853 parts per million uranium.
Crucially, the target lies immediately southwest of the Eureka Dome and falls along the same structural corridor informally known as “Alaskite Alley” — that hosts some of the most productive uranium mines in the world: Rössing, Husab, Etango, Omaholo, and Norasa. Together, those deposits contain over one billion pounds of uranium oxide (U₃O₈).
Senior Geologist Tolene Kruger noted that the geology, structural setting, and early results are consistent with the deposit models that led to the discovery of the major leucogranite-hosted uranium deposits in Namibia.
The company’s interim CEO Christopher Drysdale described the find as highlighting the “expanded potential of the Eureka Project” and providing significant exploration upside in one of the world’s most established critical minerals mining jurisdictions.
The target is almost entirely covered by thin overburden, meaning primary leucogranite-hosted mineralisation typical of the iconic Rössing-style deposits has yet to be drilled and tested at depth.
Geologists believe that near-surface leaching has occurred, leaving surface rocks somewhat depleted, while the richest material likely lies at deeper levels awaiting the drill bit.
This comes alongside a broader wave of activity in the Erongo Region. Bannerman Energy’s world-class Etango Uranium Project, situated just 30 km southeast of Swakopmund, holds a mineral resource of 207 million pounds of U₃O₈ and has completed a Definitive Feasibility Study.
Meanwhile, Deep Yellow Limited’s Tumas Project, a calcrete-hosted deposit also in the Erongo Region completed a revised Definitive Feasibility Study in April 2025 outlining annual production of 3.6 million pounds of U₃O₈ over a 30-year mine life.
Namibia’s Uranium Heritage: A Story of Remarkable Output
Uranium was first discovered in Namibia’s Namib Desert in 1928, but serious commercial exploitation did not begin until Rio Tinto took exploration rights over the Rössing deposit in 1966 and started production in 1976.
That single mine still operating today, now majority-owned by China National Uranium Corporation was for decades the world’s largest uranium mine. A second wave of activity followed in the 2000s, with the Langer Heinrich mine opening in 2006 and the colossal Husab Mine being the world’s largest open-pit uranium operation beginning production in December 2016.
The results are striking. In 2022, Namibia produced 5,613 metric tonnes of uranium, representing 11.37% of global production and cementing its rank as the world’s third-largest producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada.
By 2024, output had climbed to 7,333 metric tonnes, and with Husab operating near capacity, estimates for 2025 production range between 8,000 and 9,000 tonnes. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Namibia together supplied approximately 74.6% of all the world’s mined uranium in 2024, illustrating just how concentrated and strategically vital Namibia’s contribution has become.
The Husab Mine alone is a behemoth. In 2025, it posted an annual turnover of N$8.8 billion, was ranked first in business performance among China General Nuclear’s 56 companies worldwide, and has launched Namibia’s most extensive exploration campaign, spanning 680,000 metres over seven years explicitly aiming to “discover another Husab within Husab.” If current performance continues, Husab projects that by 2028 it could become Namibia’s first billion-US-dollar turnover business.
Uranium mining is not peripheral to the Namibian economy it is central to it. The mining industry as a whole constitutes approximately 10% of Namibia’s GDP and around 50% of its total exports. In late 2025, revenues from uranium and gold exceeded diamond revenues for the first time, nearly doubling original budget estimates. That milestone underscores how dramatically the country’s economic centre of gravity has shifted toward atomic minerals.
The Global Context: A World Hungry for Uranium
The timing of Namibia’s new discoveries could scarcely be more opportune. The world is experiencing what analysts are calling a “nuclear revival.” Following decades of stagnation after the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, nuclear energy is once again being embraced by governments worldwide as a low-carbon solution to the twin challenges of climate change and surging electricity demand.
The World Nuclear Association projects that global uranium demand will rise from approximately 69,000 tonnes today to 86,000 tonnes by 2030 an increase of nearly 30% and almost double again to 150,000 tonnes by 2040.
This surge is driven by new reactor construction, the rapid growth of small modular reactors (SMRs), and soaring electricity requirements from data centres fuelling the artificial intelligence boom. Namibian research firm Simonis Storm Securities analyst Almandro Jansen captured the moment succinctly, describing the world as standing “on the cusp of a nuclear revival.”
In early 2024, uranium spot prices surged to a 17-year high of US$106 per pound, driven by a growing global commitment to nuclear energy and supply concerns.
Prices have since stabilised around US$70 per pound as of mid-2025, with the market remaining bullish due to a persistent supply-demand imbalance. For Namibia, sitting atop roughly 5–7% of the world’s known uranium resources, this environment represents an extraordinary economic opportunity.
Jansen has estimated that if currently planned projects including Bannerman’s Etango-8 and Deep Yellow’s Tumas come to fruition, Namibia’s uranium production could increase by 30 to 40% in the next decade, further solidifying its position as a key contributor to global supply.
Geopolitical Dimensions: Great Powers Circle Namibia’s Resources
Namibia’s uranium wealth has made it a theatre for great-power competition. Chinese companies already have significant stakes in the three biggest producers: Husab (operated by Swakop Uranium, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Group), Langer Heinrich (in which China’s CNNC holds a stake), and Rössing (68.6% owned by China National Uranium Corporation). China’s dominance in Namibian uranium supply chains is a striking feature of the current landscape.
Russia is also expanding its engagement. Following high-level meetings between Namibian officials and Rosatom Russia’s state nuclear corporation, the two countries agreed in 2025 to establish a legal framework for cooperation on nuclear projects.
Rosatom has conducted uranium exploration in Namibia since 2011, identified sizeable deposits in 2018, and plans to begin mining by 2029. In April 2025, Namibia entered a strategic partnership with Russia that includes plans for $450 million in domestic uranium processing infrastructure and $75 million for a nuclear research facility.
The United States has also stepped in. In June 2025, NANO Nuclear Energy signed a memorandum of understanding with the Namibia Industrial Development Agency to explore developing a local nuclear fuel supply chain and potentially deploy microreactors in Namibia in the early 2030s.
The Western powers, long aware that their reliance on Kazakhstani and Russian uranium creates vulnerabilities, increasingly look to Namibia as a stable, democratic, mining-friendly alternative.
Namibia’s uranium is exported to customers in the USA, Europe, and Asia. This geographic diversification of buyers gives Windhoek considerable diplomatic leverage, a resource superpower’s classic advantage even as it must navigate the risks of being courted simultaneously by competing global powers.
Namibia’s Own Nuclear Ambitions
In a historic policy pivot, Namibia is no longer content with being purely an exporter of raw uranium. In April 2025, President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah announced plans to initiate discussions for the country’s first nuclear power plant, emphasising the use of Namibia’s own uranium for national development.
In September 2025, Cabinet approved Namibia’s Nuclear Industry Strategy, laying the formal foundation for nuclear energy development.
The rationale is compelling. Namibia currently produces about 60% of its energy demand locally, importing the shortfall from neighbouring nations. With hydropower, solar, and wind dominating its current mix, nuclear power offers a route to full energy independence while supporting Namibia’s Vision 2030 economic goals.
A nuclear plant could reduce reliance on imported electricity, lower carbon emissions, and create substantial employment and infrastructure.
The World Bank’s recent decision to end its ban on financing nuclear energy projects and its recognition of the potential of small modular reactors has opened new doors for financing.
The challenges are real: high capital costs, limited local technical expertise, and complex geopolitical dependencies on partner nations. But Namibia’s approach is measured.
As legal analysts at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr have noted, the country’s current administration has continued its support for the nuclear project while remaining alive to geopolitical risks. Namibia, known as the “Land of the Brave,” appears determined to convert its raw resource wealth into sovereign energy power.
Environmental and Social Considerations
Namibia’s uranium boom is not without its tensions. The Erongo Region’s Strategic Environmental Assessment has long flagged the risk that a uranium “rush” could turn into a uranium “crush” if revenues are not reinvested in affected communities and environments, or if an unforeseen collapse in uranium prices causes mines to abruptly close. Water security is a perennial concern: Husab alone consumes nine million cubic metres of water annually, accounting for 65% of the Erongo Region’s total demand.
Industry and government have responded with significant infrastructure investment. A joint venture between Swakop Uranium (70%) and NamWater (30%) is constructing a major new 20 million cubic metre per year desalination plant near Swakopmund, part-financed with German KfW Development Bank support.
Husab has itself pledged N$170 million toward Erongo’s second desalination facility. These investments attempt to align the mining sector’s water demands with the broader needs of communities and coastal towns.
On the social side, mines are making visible commitments. Husab’s foundation has pledged 10,000 goats and sheep to seven Erongo constituencies to restock resettled farms, provided medical oxygen during the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to train healthcare workers, and invests in school facilities and skills development.
Critics note, however, that corporate tax payments from Husab remain minimal due to accumulated assessed losses exceeding US$400 million, meaning the state has not yet fully captured the fiscal returns from what is already a colossal operation.
What the New Discovery Means for Namibia and the World
The identification of the new Eureka Project uranium target, and the broader intensification of Erongo Region exploration, arrives at a pivotal moment in the history of both Namibia and global energy. Several implications stand out:
- Extending Namibia’s Production Horizon. With Rössing’s Phase 4 pushback extending its life to at least 2036, Langer Heinrich’s restart, and Husab’s record outputs, Namibia’s near-term production is secured. New discoveries like the Eureka target point to a pipeline that could sustain and grow Namibian output well into the 2040s and 2050s — precisely when global demand is projected to nearly double.
- Reinforcing Supply Chain Resilience. The uranium market’s dangerous concentration in a handful of jurisdictions with political instability in Niger reducing its output significantly in 2024 — makes Namibia’s stable, democratic governance and robust regulatory environment especially valuable. Western nuclear powers in particular have strong incentives to deepen supply relationships with Windhoek.
- Strengthening Namibia’s Bargaining Power. Each new confirmed deposit adds to Namibia’s leverage in negotiations with investor nations. The country is in a position to extract better terms including value-addition requirements, local processing, technology transfer, and fiscal arrangements as it becomes ever more critical to the global nuclear fuel cycle.
- Accelerating the Domestic Nuclear Agenda. A larger identified resource base makes the economics of domestic nuclear power generation more compelling. If Namibia can develop its own nuclear capacity whether through conventional reactors or the SMR technologies now attracting global investment, it could transition from a uranium exporter to a fully self-sufficient energy producer, and ultimately an energy exporter in its own right.
- Economic Transformation. For a nation of approximately 3.1 million people, uranium revenues are transformative. As uranium and gold revenues already outpace diamonds historically the cornerstone of Namibian export earnings, the country has an opportunity to fund education, infrastructure, healthcare, and industrial diversification at a scale previously impossible.
Conclusion: A Nation at the Epicentre of the Atomic Age’s Second Coming
Namibia’s Erongo Region is, quite simply, one of the most important geological formations on Earth for the coming decades. As the world’s governments reach a collective reckoning with climate change and energy security, uranium is being recast not as a relic of Cold War anxieties but as an indispensable fuel for a low-carbon future. The new discoveries in Alaskite Alley are one more reminder that Namibia a vast, arid, and sparsely populated nation on Africa’s southwest Atlantic coast — holds the keys to a substantial portion of humanity’s atomic energy future.
Already producing 10% of the world’s uranium from its third-place position, with production projected to climb a further 30–40% over the next decade, and with new targets emerging in its most prolific mining corridor, Namibia stands on the threshold of becoming not just a uranium powerhouse but a defining force in the global energy transition. The question is no longer whether Namibia’s uranium matters to the world. The question is whether Namibia can capture enough of that value to transform itself.
Based on emerging evidence from the Erongo Region, the answer appears to be a resounding yes.
*Lot Ndamanomhata is from Ekoka. This article reflects his views and writes entirely in his personal capacity.
