Source: Bloomberg, ITAR Tass                           Date: 16 December, 2010

Russia and Mongolia have signed an agreement specifying general principles of creating a joint venture to develop Mongolia’s biggest untapped uranium field, the Dornod resource. The agreement was signed in Moscow between Rosatom Corp., Russia’s nuclear power company, Russia’s government-run ARMZ Uranium Holding, Mongolia’s state-owned KOO MonAtom and the country’s Nuclear Energy Agency.

Russian investment in the first stage of the project is USD300 million, Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said. Production may start next year. ARMZ Deputy General Director Tigran Khachaturov said the agreement was supplemented with an action plan, which said that the joint venture would start to function in 160 days.

Mr. Khachaturov estimated the Mongolian uranium reserves at 30,000 tons. The new company “will survey, mine and process uranium”, he said. “We did not discuss the possible turnout because we needed to draft a feasibility study first,” he said.