Rio Tinto may exceed its forecast annual production at the Rossing uranium mine in Namibia by as much as 1000 tonnes a year through the addition of a heap leach pad at the site.

The miner has previously forecast that Rossing will reach nameplate capacity of 4500 tonnes a year by 2012, up from current production levels of 4000 tonnes a year.

Rossing managing director Mike Leech told journalists in a presentation in Namibia last week that management was looking at building a heap leach pad at Rossing to improve efficiency at the mine.

The planned pad could increase uranium production at the mine to 5500 tonnes a year, with the facility expected to start running in the first quarter of 2011, he added.

“We have sufficient reserves to support growth and strong production growth is anticipated,” Mr Leech said.

The proposed heap leach pad is part of a plan to extend the mine life of Rossing, along with a drilling exploration program to determine the potential for expanding the existing open pit and changes to the chutes in the ore crushers to reduce spillage and improve efficiency.

The operation was initially expected to run out of ore last year, but studies into extending its life pushed the closure date out to 2016 and then further to 2021.

During a site visit to the mine last week, Rossing general manager operations Willem Van Rooyen said management was “reasonably optimistic” the mine’s life could be extended beyond 2021 through an extension to the existing mine.

Deep drilling on the south side of the open pit had shown very positive early results, he added.

Rio also holds a strategic stake in Extract Resources, an Australian-listed explorer drilling for uranium just 7 km away from Rossing.

When asked about Rio’s stake in the miner, Mr Leech said Extract’s early drilling results “looked promising” but added that Rio’s growth plans were centred on its existing operations.

Rossing uranium is sold under long-term contracts to customers in the US, Europe, Japan and China, making it less exposed to the recent weakness in uranium spot prices.

Rio chief executive Tom Albanese is seeking to position the miner as a world leader in developing resources in environmentally sensitive regions and areas of high sovereign risk.

Earlier this year, Mr Albanese said Rio’s experience in such regions made the miner an attractive joint venture partner for Chinese state-owned companies seeking access to raw materials in remote parts of the world.

Rio is currently fending off a 3.4-for-one all-share takeover attempt by the world’s biggest miner BHP Billiton.

The pre-conditional offer is set to go live when European competition regulators hand down their final decision on the proposed mega-merger in mid-January.

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