Mantra to restart Mkuju River uranium construction in October

Mantra Tanzania Limited, the Rosatom-backed developer of the Mkuju River uranium project, says it expects to begin construction of the project's main industrial complex in October 2026. "We are ready to continue with the construction of this major project as soon as possible, with activities expected to begin in October," board chairman Vladislav Shulga said.

A government-set deadline

Tanzania's minister for minerals, Anthony Mavunde, told Mantra the government expects the project to reach production by 2029, and directed the company to accelerate implementation while pledging continued state support. The push follows the commissioning of a smaller pilot uranium processing plant at the site in 2025, which demonstrated the project's technical readiness ahead of full-scale construction.

A long-delayed resource

Mkuju River, in Namtumbo district of Ruvuma region, has been one of Africa's largest known uranium deposits for more than a decade, but weak prices and financing gaps repeatedly delayed its development. Mantra is a subsidiary of Uranium One Group, itself part of Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom, giving the project a different financing and ownership structure to the Western-linked developments under way in Namibia.

Why Tanzania wants it built

A functioning uranium mine would diversify Tanzania's minerals sector, which is currently dominated by gold, and create over 4,000 direct jobs while benefiting an estimated 21,000 households in surrounding communities. For a government keen to show progress on flagship resource projects, a concrete October construction start date — after years of the project languishing — is a significant political marker as much as a commercial one.

What happens next

The critical test will be whether Mantra can translate the October construction restart into steady progress toward the 2029 production target, and whether financing negotiations with Russian and Tanzanian banks conclude in time to fund the build without further delay.

Sources

• The Respondents: Tanzania pushes to revive Mkuju River uranium project by 2029, 01 Sept 2026

Photo: A yellowcake uranium concentrate exhibit, the product Tanzania's Mkuju River project aims to produce. Solarence, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.