As the "Nikkei" Japanese newspaper a report, the “Marubeni” corporation has become the first among Japanese companies to win the right to exploit uranium deposit in Mongolia.

This issue will be officially approved this year. Uranium extraction will start in 2012. The Marubeni is able to run activity in three areas, including Mardai and Gurvanbulag in Dornod aimag. The extraction and exploration license is owned by the Canadian "Khan Resources" company, so a part of it will go to the Marubeni. Resources of these areas are estimated at 62 thousand tons that are sufficient for seven-year use by Japanese atomic power plants. The Marubeni plans to invest USD 430 million firstly. This corporation has a practice in implementing a uranium extraction project n Kazakhstan, the paper writes.
At a meeting with the executive vice president of Marubeni F.Kokubu in November 2008, the Prime Minister of Mongolia S.Bayar expressed a willingness to support a project to be carried out by the Marubeni in the uranium sector of Mongolia and noted that the sides should determine lines of joint actions and launch talks thereon. He also noted an importance of legal regulation in the mining sector, in uranium sphere in particular. The Government of Mongolia is interested in implementing payments in advance upon the creation of preconditions for launching the project without waiting for the construction of a uranium plant and for first profits.
Mongolia is among the tops by its volume of uranium resources. Approximately 1.4 million tons of uranium has been estimated. In socialism era, Russia used to exploit the Mardai deposit. In 1981, Mongolia and Russia concluded an agreement on exploitation of the uranium deposit. It was officially launched in 1989 and closed seven years later due to low prices of uranium on the world market.
The Marubeni Corporation was founded in 1858 and incorporated in 1949. It has 158 branches in 79 countries of the world. The shareholders of the Marubeni are the Chase Manhattan Bank N.A. London, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc., The Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance company, Nippon Life Insurance company, State Street Bank and Trust company, Morgan Stanley and company Inc., Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd., and the Master Trust Bank of Japan.

 

Source: Montsame

Jan 5, 2009