Mongolia may decide soon on uranium joint venture with Russia

The government of Mongolia could soon decide on establishing a joint venture with Russia to develop a Mongolian uranium deposit, the head of the Russian civilian nuclear power corporation, Rosatom, said on Tuesday.

At a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Sergei Kiriyenko said that Russia had signed an intergovernmental deal on the uranium joint venture early in 2009 but the project stalled due to the change of government in Mongolia.

"Already after the election, we signed an agreement with the new government and in January signed a specific protocol. The government of Mongolia has made a decision on the Dornod-uranium deposit. This deposit is in the ownership of the government of Mongolia," Sergei Kiriyenko said.

Kiriyenko said that Russia had transferred all the constituent documents on the joint venture to the Mongolian side and the secretary of the Mongolian Security Council confirmed to Rosatom that a final decision on contributing the deposit to the joint venture would be made soon.

Kiriyenko said work on the deposit could be launched quickly as the deposit was located 300 km (186 miles) from Russia's neighboring Chita Region where a mining enterprise was situated and whose specialists and equipment could be used in the uranium deposit development.

Rosatom increased production of uranium by 25% in 2009 and has set the task of increasing uranium output by at least 11% in 2010, Kiriyenko said.

SOCHI, May 4

Source:RIA Novosti