(Yicai Global) Jan. 25 -- A China-backed uranium mine in Namibia produced more than 1,000 tons of ore last year, and will reach its peak design capacity in 2018.

Hushan Uranium Mine will be able to produce up to 6,500 tons a year once the plant is complete, Huang Xiaofei, spokesman for China General Nuclear Power Corp., China's leading nuclear power plant operator and an investor in the mine, said at an annual press briefing on Jan .23.

China is turning to nuclear as a key clean energy to replace coal-fired power generation. It has several nuclear plants under construction and hopes to have them in operation within the next few years, so is expecting demand for uranium to rise.

The mine is a flagship project in China and Namibia's cooperation to extract uranium, and the largest in the world of its kind.

CGNPC Uranium Resources Co. and the China-Africa Development Fund acquired the Hushan mine in 2012. It yielded its first bucket of triuranium octaoxide, the most common natural form of uranium, near the end of 2016, adding to supplies for nuclear development in China.