OREANDA-NEWS. May 27, 2008. The Russian-Canadian JV set up for prospecting uranium in North-Western Russia (Karelia) has already been registered. Presently, the company is undergoing licensing procedures, the director general of Atomredmetzoloto holding Vadim Zhivov said during a press-conference on Tuesday.

To remind, during a meeting in Ottawa on Nov 29 representatives of Atomredmetzoloto OJSC (Atomenergoprom’s leading company for uranium mining in Russia and abroad) and Cameco Corporation, the world’s leader in uranium mining, concluded an agreement for establishing joint ventures for uranium prospecting and mining in Russia and Canada.

The agreement was signed by Director General of Atomredmetzoloto V.Zhivov, President and CEO of Cameco Corporation Gerald Grandey and Senior Vice President of Cameco Corporation George Assie.

The Russian-Canadian JVs are supposed to prospect and mine uranium in the territories of Russia and Canada, particularly, in North-Western Russia and provinces of Saskatchevan and Nunavut.

Zhivov said that in Canada the registration is over. In Russia, this process has been delayed a bit as the newly adopted law on regulation of the access for foreign investors to Russia’s strategic sectors stipulates that the company should receive the consent of all individual subsoil managers in the region.

At the initial stage, by 2010, the company will spend \\$3mln on the creation of necessary infrastructure and design work.

The Board of Atomenergoprom and the Board of Directors of Atomredmetzoloto have already made relevant decisions.