Elevate nears pilot plant start-up
Elevate Uranium is nearing the start of operations at its U-pgrade™ demonstration and pilot plant in Namibia, with commissioning and operator training approaching completion.
The Australian-listed company said steady-state operations were expected to begin in late January 2026, following the assembly of the plant in Namibia after its transportation from Australia.
The facility is designed to validate the company's proprietary U-pgrade™ beneficiation process on ore from its Koppies and Marenica uranium projects. The results will feed into technical studies for both projects.
Elevate Uranium managing director Murray Hill said commissioning the facility marked a significant milestone for the company.
“Commissioning of the U-pgradeTM Demonstration/Pilot Plant in Namibia is a major milestone that our team has been working hard to achieve. After transportation from Australia, the plant was assembled in Namibia and is being commissioned under the supervision of the company’s senior metallurgist, Andrew Jones, who relocated to Namibia to oversee the commissioning and operations,” Hill said.
During commissioning the Company has been training forty local personnel to assist in operating the plant, along with confirming that all mechanical, control, and process systems will operate as designed. Steady state operation of the Pilot Plant is scheduled to commence in late January 2026, following the Christmas and New Year holiday period, according to Hill.
The company said the pilot plant would generate operational data and process metrics to assess the beneficiation process under continuous operating conditions and at a commercially scalable size.
The project also involves training 40 local personnel to support plant operations.
Elevate Uranium said the information gathered would be incorporated into technical studies for the Koppies and Marenica projects.
