MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russian state-owned uranium producer and trader Techsnabexport intends to take part in developing the world's largest copper and uranium deposit, Olympic Dam in Australia, the first deputy CEO said Friday.
"We are conducting talks on this deposit with BHP Billiton," Vadim Zhivov said.
Zhivov said the scheme is the world's largest uranium production project, with reserves that could last 70 years. He said the first stage of work to develop the deposit will be launched in 2013 with production at 4,900 metric tons of uranium annually, and that the second stage will bring production to 15,000 tons per year.
The company official said talks are complicated, and will continue for a considerable time.
Techsnabexport, which operates on the world market under the Tenex brand, is 100% state-owned. The company is one of the world's largest suppliers of nuclear fuel cycle products and services, and has subsidiaries in Germany, South Korea and Japan.
BHP Billiton, headquartered in Melbourne with secondary headquarters in London, is the world's largest mining company. Its turnover in 2005 was $31.8 billion, and attributable profit was $6.5 billion.
In early October, Techsnabexport and Japan's Mitsui announced a joint project to develop a sector of the Yuzhnaya zone of the Elkon uranium ore deposit, in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), in East Siberia.
Russia's nuclear chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, said earlier the country's reserves of coal and natural gas will be depleted in 50 years, so Russia is aiming to expand its nuclear energy sector and meet 60-70% of its uranium demand domestically by 2015.
He also said Russia intends to boost cooperation with all uranium-producing countries, including Canada and its uranium giant Cameco.
Techsnabexport provides about 35% of global uranium supplies, and plans to broaden its operations in Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.
