Japanese trading house Mitsui and Co said yesterday it planned to jointly develop one of the world's largest uranium mines in Russia to supply Japanese nuclear power plants.
Mitsui and the Russian state-owned nuclear fuel firm Techsnabexport (Tenex) will together spend nearly ?29 billion (US$245 million) to develop the mine, with the aim of beginning production in 2009, a Mitsui spokesman said.
Mitsui hopes to own 25 percent of the Yuzhnaya mine, located in the Sakha Republic in far-eastern Russia.
It will be the first case of a foreign company developing a uranium mine in Russia, said the spokesman, who declined to be named.
Mitsui and Tenex signed a contract on Thursday in Moscow to start feasibility studies as a first step towards deciding on the percentage of exclusive negotiation rights it will take for commercial production, he said.
Mitsui will shoulder about ?706 million for the initial studies on drilling methods and the environmental impact, he said.
The companies believe the mine, which has estimated reserves of more than 250,000 tonnes of uranium, could yield up to 1,000 tonnes a year by 2015.
"If we could obtain 25 percent [of that], the company could supply annually about 250 tonnes of uranium to nuclear power plants in Japan," the spokesman said.
Resource-poor Japan relies on nuclear generation for some 30 percent of its electricity with annual uranium consumption of about 8,700 tonnes a year.
Former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Central Asia in August as part of efforts to establish more diverse energy supplies.
Japan imports nearly all of its oil, mostly from the volatile Middle East including Iran, which is facing possible international sanctions over its nuclear program.
Separately, Japan's trade minister said that a state-designated oil development company could lose part of its stake in a US$2 billion project to develop Iran's Azadegan oil field.
Japan's Inpex Corp has a 75 percent working interest in the project to develop the field. But talks between Inpex and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) over the project to tap one of the world's largest oil fields have reportedly been stalled because the US has urged Tokyo to freeze the project over Iran's suspected development of nuclear weapons.
"Discussions are currently continuing about the entire framework [of the project]," Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari told reporters in Tokyo.
When asked if this could include changes to the size of Inpex's stake in the project, Amari replied, "I think that is conceivable."
Amari's comments came in the wake of reports that NIOC managing director Gholam Hussein Nozari had been quoted in Iranian media early yesterday as saying Inpex's stake in the project would be cut to 10 percent.
The two companies signed a contract in 2004 to jointly develop the Azadegan oil field, thought to be one of the largest in the world.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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