UPDATE: China to become co-investor of 18.5 bln rbl uranium mine

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MOSCOW, Mar 12 (PRIME) -- The Russia-China Investment Fund for Regional Development on Monday signed an agreement to become a co-investor of construction of a 18.5 billion ruble uranium mine of Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Union, part of state nuclear power corporation Rosatom’s unit Atomredmetzoloto.

The company plans to start construction of the mine on Tuesday, and to launch the first stage of the mine in 2023. The project’s cost is, and the first investment tranche of the fund is to amount to 2.5 billion rubles, according to the agreement. Commercial reserves of the mine’s mineral fields stand at about 40,000 tonnes of uranium.

Nikolai Spassky, a deputy CEO of Rosatom for international relations, told reporters at the signing ceremony that the Russian–Chinese project in the uranium sector encompasses joint work of the two countries at the world markets of uranium.

Wang Feng, chairman of the Russia-China Investment Fund for Regional Development, said that the fund may support joint construction of nuclear power plants and nuclear medicine in the future.

“There are many common points for cooperation. For instance, it includes construction of nuclear power plants. It also includes cooperation in production and sales of isotopes,” he said.

(56.8011 rubles – U.S. $1)

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