Bannerman Mining Resources Namibia has closed 2025 with a year defined by discipline, progress and a safety record that continues to set the benchmark for Namibia’s uranium sector.
At Etango, the company’s flagship development outside Swakopmund, the project team celebrated a remarkable 16 consecutive years without a lost-time injury.
This achievement has become central to Bannerman’s identity and operational culture.
The year also underscored the project’s shift from planning to execution.
At the start of 2025, only eleven owner’s team specialists were active on site. By December, that figure had risen to fourteen, supported by a contractor workforce of more than 120 Namibians.
That number is set to surge to roughly 400 by early 2026 as complete earthworks, concrete works and permanent water infrastructure begin.
Bannerman has stuck to its commitment of using 100% Namibian contractors for early works, a decision that has strengthened local capability while maintaining world-class construction standards.
Across the Etango site, visible transformation has taken place month by month.
The secondary and tertiary crushing facilities moved from design drawings to active construction, the site access road progressed steadily between June 2024 and September 2025, and temporary construction water and power systems were installed and stabilised.
Bulk earthworks advanced over several fronts, with the primary crusher area reshaped between late 2024 and October 2025, and the heap leach pad showing evident progress through March, July and October.
Just as significant have been the milestones behind the scenes.
Bannerman signed its first initial offtake agreements during the year, demonstrating growing market confidence in Etango’s long-term production profile.
The company’s financial position matured in parallel, with its institutional shareholder base diversifying and expenditure tightly controlled through a stage-gate approach that aligns capital deployment with market timing and board approvals.
The leadership team guiding Etango has remained stable, experienced and deeply rooted in both Namibia and the broader uranium sector.
Chief executive Gavin Chamberlain, managing director for Namibia Werner Ewald, chief financial officer Steve Herlihy, and the rest of the executive and owners’ teams bring decades of development, operational, technical, and commercial expertise to the project.
Their combined background — spanning Husab, Rössing, Debmarine Namibia, Skorpion, Tschudi and international nuclear fuel markets — continues to anchor Bannerman’s execution strategy.
Looking ahead, Etango’s pathway to production is clearly laid out. The project remains in its targeted FID window, with market conditions expected to determine the exact timing.
The roadmap moves from finalising additional offtake agreements and securing strategic financing, through full-scale construction, commissioning and ramp-up to an initial output of 3.5 million pounds of uranium per year. Beyond that, Bannerman is positioning Etango for expansion under the Etango-XP concept, which could lift production to 6.7 million pounds per year by 2030.
As 2025 drew to a close, Bannerman’s message remained consistent: be prepared, be patient, and execute with discipline.
With major contracts advancing into 2026, a construction team described as “match-fit,” and a safety record that continues to surpass industry norms, Etango enters the new year not as a distant vision but as a uranium mine steadily taking physical shape on the floor of the Namib Desert.
