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Uzbekistan becomes fourth supplier of uranium to India

Business Materials 27 August 2014 18:20 (UTC +04:00)

Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Aug.27

By Demir Azizov- Trend:

Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (NMMC) in Uzbekistan will supply to India 2000 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate in 2014-2018, The Indian Express newspaper said on Aug.27.

NMMC has signed a five-year contract worth a total of $3.5 billion for the supply of 2000 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate to India.

Comments of Uzbek side on this issue are not available at the moment.

The Indian Express notes that India has signed a contract with the Uzbek company within the frameworks of diversification of supplies of uranium for the country's security.

Uzbekistan has become the fourth supplier of uranium to India after France, Russia and Kazakhstan, the newspaper notes.

As previously reported, the agreement on deliveries of Uzbek uranium was reached during the visit of Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid to Tashkent in September last of year.

Since 1992, the exclusive right to export uranium mined NMMC, the monopoly operator for the extraction, beneficiation and export of uranium in Uzbekistan, belonged to American Nukem Inc.

According to the American company, in 1992 Nukem sold to foreign customers over 45,400 tonnes of Uzbek uranium.

In February of 2011, the Japanese Itochu Corporation and Navoi MMC signed a ten-year contract for the regular purchase of uranium for communal services in Japan.

NMMC has a monopoly on the extraction, refining and export of end-products in the form of uranium oxide.

The basis of the mineral resource base of uranium production plant currently comprises 20 fields with the depth of ore bodies from 120 to 600 meters and 10 prospective areas.

According to the State Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources of Uzbekistan, explored and estimated uranium reserves amount to 185.8 million tonnes, of which 138.800 tonnes account for uranium deposits of sandstone-type, and 47 000 tonnes for black shale. Deposits of the black shale type are not practiced currently in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan is not a consumer of uranium products, and all uranium products are exported.

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