Russia and Mongolia Ink Uranium Deal

By Joel Scanlon
A joint venture agreement has been signed by Russia and Mongolia to develop the largest untapped uranium field in the world. The uranium mine in Mongolia will be developed with Russian investment in the first stage of the project.

The agreement was signed in Moscow between the Rosatom Corp, ARMZ Uranium Holding and the Mongolian state owned KOO MonAtom. Rosatom Corp is the nuclear power company for Russia and ARMZ Uranium Holding is also a government run Russian company.

The development of this mineral resource has been delayed in part due to political dissonance and in part due to lack of funding. This will no longer be a problem since Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his visiting Mongolian counterpart Sukhbaatar Batbold have signed on the dotted line.

The Dornod Uranium company has now been formed to start mining uranium. The chief executive of Rosatom Sergei Kiriyenko said that they would be investing $300 million in the first stage of the project. The mine hopes to start producing uranium in 2011.

Russian geologists had explored the region in the 1970s and mining of the ore was in progress by the Priargun Mining Chemicals Association then. The idea of the resumption of mining was triggered in 2009 with the joint venture concept.

Source:www.azomining.com