Russia offers India uranium field stake

Russia offered India a stake in one of the world's largest uranium fields during Putin's visit,Russian news agencies quoted the head of the state nuclear company as saying.

Russia offered India a stake in one of the world’s largest uranium fields during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit last week,Russian news agencies quoted the head of the state nuclear company as saying.

Russia,holder of a tenth of the world’s uranium reserves,is positioning itself to become a major supplier to the nuclear power industry. It aims to build up to 16 reactors in India.

“We have agreed with our Indian partners the creation of a joint venture for geological exploration and production of uranium,” Rosatom head Sergei Kiriyenko was quoted by state-run RIA news agency as saying on Monday.

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“We offered them participation in the Elkon field,” he said,adding that the prospective joint venture could operate in third countries as well and build uranium processing plants in both Russia and India.

State-owned Russian mining company ARMZ Uranium Holding Co,or AtomRedMetZoloto,holds the licence to the Elkon field in Russia’s Sakha Republic. It is estimated to hold 344,000 tonnes of uranium,or 5.3 per cent of the world’s recoverable reserves.

The company,which also holds licences for uranium fields in Mongolia and Kazakhstan,earlier said it is looking for a strategic partner,such as Japan’s Mitsui,to help it develop the Elkon mine.

Russia is competing with French and American firms for lucrative contracts to build nuclear power plants for India as Asia’s third-largest economy needs to boost its energy supply to sustain rapid economic growth.

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Putin visited India on March 12 to oversee a signing of about $10 billion worth of deals,which included an agreement on nuclear energy. Russia already has a 15 per cent share of the global reactor-building market.