AZG Armenian Daily #240, 27/12/2007
Industry
URANIUM EXPLORATION WILL START IN ARMENIA IN 2008
Exploration of uranium deposits in Armenia will start
in 2008, said yesterday on a press conference Armenian
Environment Minister Aram Haroutiunian.
According to the Minister, deposits are prospected by
a recently created Armenian-Russian joint venture
whose shares are divided equally. The license for
prospecting activities will be given to the company
for 5 years.
To be reminded, the Armenian Government recently made
decision on joining the agreement on creation of an
international center for uranium enrichment in
Angarsk. The founders of the center are Russia and
Kazakhstan.
Earlier, during his visit to Yerevan, head of RosAtom
Sergey Kiriyenko said that the latest research
discovered that Armenia may posses 1.5-2 times more
uranium resources than it wad been estimated in the
Soviet period. The deposit is located in Syunik region
of Armenia and contains about 30 thousand tons of
uranium bearing ore. Russia is ready to expand the
prospecting works.
For the first time the opportunity of establishing of
the Armenian-Russian uranium processing company was
discussed during the meeting of the Armenian and
Russian Presidents Robert Kocharian and Vladimir Putin
in Sochi, early 2007.