Private Russian Firm Gets Share in Uranium Mining Project

For the first time ever, a private company has been allowed to engage in uranium mining in Russia, ITAR-TASS reported on 31 March. Atomredmetzoloto, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Russian state corporation Rosatom, has embarked on a joint project with a private gold mining company, Zoloto Seligdara, to develop the Lunnoye deposit, which contains gold, silver and uranium. The companies signed an agreement on financing and implementation of the project, the news agency said, quoting a joint statement by the partners. A joint company named Lunnoye is being set up to develop the gold and uranium deposit in South Yakutia.

A feasibility study for the Lunnoye deposit is expected to be finalized by the end of this year. An estimated R1.4bn (around 59.5m dollars) is to be invested in exploration efforts, engineering works and the construction of an ore mill by 2011. Mining is planned to begin in 2010, with the designed capacity of 1.4 tonnes of gold annually reached by 2012.

Atomredmetzoloto will control the sale of uranium produced at the mine, while Zoloto Seligdara will distribute gold and silver. “It’s a pilot project to attract an investor in the Russian uranium industry, which faces a major task of boosting uranium output threefold by 2015,” ITAR-TASS quoted Atomredmetzoloto director Viktor Zhivov as saying.

Originally published by ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1338 30 Mar 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.