OREANDA-NEWS. March 27, 2008. President of Buriatia Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn met with Director General of Atomredmetzoloto OJSC (Uranium Holding ARMZ) Vadim Zhivov.

Zhivov told him about ARMZ’s plans in Buriatia. Buriatia has a big Vitim uranium area where uranium is mined by ecologically safe underground leaching method. The current reserves of Vitim are 55,000 tons (C1+C2), the estimated reserves – 100,000–150,000 tons. 

In order to develop Vitim ARMZ is building Khiagda company. Last year Khiagda mined 26 tons of uranium – it was a pilot project. This year the company is planning to mine 120 tons. ARMZ is planning to build a company with a productive capacity of 1,000 tons of uranium a year but the area is so rich in uranium that by 2015 the capacity can be raised to 2,000 tons a year.

In order to build infrastructure in the areas of new industrial projects in Buriatia, ARMZ is planning to use the money allocated by the Investment Fund of Russia for the “Complex Development of Trans-Baikal Region” program. Particularly, the program provides financing for the construction of a federal road and a bridge over Vitim River near the village of Romanovka (the projects are expected to solve the transport problems of Khiagda).

Nagovitsyn expressed support for ARMZ’s plans and decided to hold a special meeting with all the parties to the “Complex Development of Trans-Baikal Region” program. The meeting will take place in early Apr.