Berkeley Energia said on 11 October that infrastructure development began at its Salamanca uranium project in Spain in August in preparation for main construction work next year. Work is now under way to construct a 5.2km road re-routing and a raw water dam as well as pedestrian footpaths, secure cattle paths and the installation of a wifi network for local villagers, which is part of the company's commitment to improve local community infrastructure. A contract to re-route a main powerline has been awarded to Iberdrola.
Construction will begin in early 2017, after completion of the road access development which is expected to take about three months. In late September, Berkeley announced the appointment of MDM Engineering, part of the Amec Foster Wheeler Group, to carry out the Salamanca mine's front end engineering design – the execution phase of the project during which the overall engineering and process design is translated into equipment procurement packages and awards to specialist subcontractors.
Shipments from the mine, which is expected to produce 4.4m lbs U3O8 (1,692 tU) a year, are expected to begin in 2018. In September, Berkeley Energia signed a letter of intent to sell the first million pounds of output to European-based commodity trading company Interalloys Ltd.
