New Delhi
4 February 2008
New Delhi's belated attempts at tapping the African continent for
sourcing uranium to fuel its ambitious civil nuclear programme is beginning to show
results. Gabon has conveyed that it will not be averse to supplying uranium to India. An
Indian company recently bagged exclusive rights for exploration and mining of uranium
in Niger. Niger, Namibia and certain other African countries produce sizeable quantities
of uranium and, importantly for India, are not members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG).
Sources tracking India's engagement of Africa told this newspaper that Gabon is willing
to enter into a commercial transaction with India. New Delhi is studying the possibility of
reciprocating with enhancing its civil and military cooperation with Gabon, a source said,
adding that the Mumbai-based Taurian Resources has made a foray into Niger's uranium
mining industry.
The sources maintained that India needs to refocus her attention on the non-NSG
countries also because of the reluctance of Australia, Canada and Kazakhstan to supply
uranium to non-NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) signatories like India. This
newspaper has reported that Canada and Kazakhstan have joined Australia in
suggesting to India that there is no change in their policies of exporting uranium only to
those countries that have signed the NPT.
The Summit of the India-Africa Forum, to be held here in April, can be expected to lend an
impetus to New Delhi's desire to court the African continent for uranium. The sources
said that Secretary (Economic Relations) KC Singh in the Ministry of External Affairs has
been mandated to explore all the options and to give direction to the newly created
division of energy security.
According to Prof Bharat Karnad of the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research,
exploring the non-NSG African states for uranium is "eminently realisable" and it is
anyday a better option than tying India to the proposed India-United States civil nuclear
cooperation agreement.
"We don't need this deal [for uranium.] The government is living in a fool's paradise and
waiting for things to happen when we should have done our home work and first
approached the non-NSG countries before exploring the India-US nuclear deal," Prof
Karnad told this newspaper.
He said that some of the African countries like Niger have "absolutely enormous"
deposits of natural uranium and are not members of the NSG. He blamed New Delhi's
"slow-moving, viscous" foreign policy for India not tapping the African continent for
sourcing uranium to fuel her ambitious civil nuclear energy programme.
"They (non-NSG African countries) are happy to provide. These will be commercial deals.
The question is how can we incentivise them," Prof Karnad added. Namibia, Niger,
Nigeria, Uganda and Angola, who are outside the NSG, can be approached for procuring
natural uranium. Namibia is among the largest producers of uranium. Similarly, uranium
is among the largest export items for Niger. A triangular cooperation among India,
Portugal and Angola, a former Portuguese colony, has also been proposed.
A source familiar with the negotiations for the proposed India-United States civil nuclear
cooperation agreement said that New Delhi could consider a two-pronged approach to
meet its appetite for energy. The first prong would require sourcing of nuclear fuel from
the non-NSG countries. New Delhi could either make direct investments in uranium
mines abroad or collaborate with Indian companies operating in certain African countries.
The second prong would be to augment domestic production of uranium. The sources
cited Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar as saying that domestic
uranium production would be augmented and exploration will be stepped up in
Meghalaya and Karnataka. Kakodkar also said that a uranium mine and processing mill
would be commissioned at Tummalapalli in Andhra Pradesh soon.
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