LONDON (Commodity Online): India and Russia may jointly dig uranium in Russia and other countries in the coming years.
According to reports, Russia has offered joint ventures in exploration and exploitation of uranium mining within its territory and third countries.
The controlling stake in the joint projects must remain with Rosatom and the partners could get up to 49% share in the projects inside Russia, state corporation Rosatom spokesperson Sergei Novikov said.
The talks on the joint projects were held by Rosatom chief executive Sergei Kiriyenko in New Delhi with the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) during the 16th session of Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission last week.
The Elkon group of uranium deposits in Sakha is second in size only to Australia’s Olympic Dam, which is being developed by BHP Billiton and contains 34 percent of the world’s known reserves of uranium.
The total reserves of uranium in one of the parts of the Elkon group were evaluated this summer at 229,800 tons.
Development of the Elkon fields is being carried out by one of Rosatom’s units, Atomredmetzoloto, or ARMZ, which has already established a subsidiary called Elkon Mining. The projected capacity of the future mine is 5,000 tons of uranium annually, which is 50 percent more than is now being produced in all of Russia.
In addition to uranium, Elkon Mining will also produce gold, silver and molybdenum. The total project cost is estimated at 91 billion rubles ($3 billion). Construction is scheduled for 2012-2019, with pilot production running from 2014-2016, and a ramp-up to full capacity from 2017-2031.
Rosatom has long been searching for co-investors because of the project’s huge cost.
ARMZ has already signed memoranda of understanding on the project with Japan’s Mitsui and a South Korean consortium of LG International, Cores and Kepco. The documents allow for the possibility of participation of foreigners in the development of Elkon, but so far there are no specific agreements. The plan was for Mitsui to receive 25 percent of the development of the South Elkon zone, a spokesman for Rosatom said.
India and Rosatom have worked together for some time. TVEL, Rosatom’s fuel company, supplies nuclear plants in India. Rosatom is building two nuclear power plants in the country, and hopes to build a third.
Uranium mining in Elkon is a risky project, said Troika Dialog analyst Mikhail Stiskin. It would only be profitable if the cost of uranium were more than $60 a pound, which happens to be the price currently.
Realpolitik.tv
