OREANDA-NEWS. February 08, 2011. ITOCHU Corporation (headquarter in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter ЃgITOCHUЃh) and ЃgNavoi Mining And Metallurgical CombinatЃh State Company (headquarter in Navoi, Uzbekistan: Kuvandik S. Sanakulov, General Director, hereinafter called ЃgNMMCЃh) signed an long-term, large-scale sale and purchase agreement of uranium concentrates today, in the presence of Mr. Banri Kaieda, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and His Excellency Rustam Azimov, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Ms. Galina Saidova, Minister of Foreign Economic Relations, Investments and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Uranium demand is expected to increase due to the necessity of greenhouse gas emission reduction and the expansion of global nuclear power generation. ITOCHU, with the long-term, large-scale sale and purchase agreement of uranium concentrates with NMMC for 10 years, will remain committed greatly to the stable supply of uranium to Japan.

ITOCHU, with involvement in Husab (Rossing South) Uranium Project in the Republic of Namibia. (Husab is expected to become one of the leading uranium mines in the world), proactively pursue in its investment in uranium resource development and together with this new purchase contract from Uzbekistan, a world class uranium producing country, surely adds to energyЃ@securityЃ@of Japan and enables to envision contributing an aggressive approach in its uranium business among those countries promoting nuclear power generation.