Alexander Perov, senior expert of National Energy Security Foundation

– The agreement with Mongolia is crucial for strengthening Russia’s energy security and raw material base

Russia and Mongolia have agreed to set up a joint venture in the field of uranium mining. The agreement was signed as a result of the negotiations of President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and President of Mongolia Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in Ulan Bator.

Russia is the first country with which Mongolia is establishing a uranium mining joint venture. “This is an important political signal,” Director General of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Sergey Kiriyenko said.

The founders of the JV will be AtomMon (Mongolia) and Atomredmetzoloto (Russia). According to the agreement signed by Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation and Mongolian Nuclear Energy Agency on Mar 17 2009, the JV will be set up on a parity basis.

Russia has long been interested in developing the Dornod uranium area as well as in the deposits of East Gobi district of Mongolia. “One more reason why we are interested in Dornod is that it is situated just 200 km from our Priargun Mining Chemical Combine. So, we will be able to create a unified infrastructure and to recruit our specialists,” Kiriyenko said.

The parties are confident that the reserves of Dornod can be increased. It is not known how much exactly Russia is ready to invest in this project but this is, obviously, a matter of hundreds of millions USD.

The agreement with Mongolia is crucial for strengthening Russia’s energy security and raw material base. Head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko has said that Russia is the first country with which Mongolia is establishing a uranium mining joint venture.

I think that this project is very important for the industry. Now we can be sure that our nuclear complex will have guaranteed resources. 

This agreement can be compared with the contracts on Turkmen gas. We will mine uranium and will be able to use it both inside the country and under international projects.