UZBEKISTAN MULLS SELLING URANIUM TO FRANCES COGEMA
Uzbekistan is to consider an offer by France’s Cogema to buy the country’s uranium, a source in Uzbek government circles told Interfax. The source said the government had asked the Navoi Mining and Metals Plant, which is Uzbekistan’s biggest uranium producer, and the State Geology and Mineral Resources Committee and Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade Ministry to consider the offer by the end of June.
“The final decision will be based on the opinions of the relevant agencies,” the source said.
The source declined to say how much uranium Cogema might buy.
Nukem has held exclusive rights on the international market to the uranium Navoi mines since 1992. The contract was last year extended until 2013.
Navoi is a monopoly operator, it mines, enriches and exports Uzbek uranium. It has three enterprises that mine uranium by the in situ leach (ISL) method.
The uranium is milled at the No. 1 Hydrometallurgical Plant in the city of Navoi.
Navoi produced 2,301 tons of uranium in 2005, compared with 2,016 tons in 2004.
The geology committee said 27 uranium fields in the Kyzyl Kum region form the core of the country’s uranium resource base.
The country’s total uranium reserves are estimated at 55,000 tons.
Via: Asia Pulse
