Countries with the largest uranium reserves. Uranium reserves, which countries have the largest? Characteristics of uranium ores

as we remember, in ancient times the whole world was presented to people standing on three huge elephants, which leaned their legs on the shell of an even more massive turtle.

Interestingly, Western uranium the world, of course minus as always, mysterious, incomprehensible and somehow alien to the "collective West" countries like Russia, China or Kazakhstan, to which I will return a little later, in the following material - looks in some way subtly similar to the naive ideas of the ancients about the earth's firmament:

Canadian elephants, Australian tortoise. The Western world is flat and on top.

Having read in the previous article a clear refutation of the fears of the average man in the street about radiation, you can now take a slightly different look at the historical process of uranium mining in Western countries, at its current state and at the prospects for the uranium mining industry in the near future.

For the analysis of many parameters of uranium mining in the West, I deliberately take the work of Mikael Dittmar "The end of cheap uranium", since it is she who likes to be thoughtlessly quoted, for example, by the guru of the "new accelerator nuclear power" Mr. Ostretsov.
Well, in general, in general, this work in recent times serves as a fairly good club in the hands of opponents of nuclear energy.
Like: "Where are you pulling us, in next year there will be no uranium at all! Shut down the reactors!

Exactly. Will not. In 2013. At all. Uranus. On the ground.
Let's figure it out, slowly and in detail. With the whole herd and for all the cows - individually.

Let's start with the uranium "elders". From those who started mining uranium first and who already have natural uranium left with a mouse's horseradish with a gulkin's nose: from the USA and from Europe. Let's start with the "flat world", which is, as it were, on the palm of your hand, in plain sight and all from above.

It is these two regions, as we remember, that consume the largest amount of uranium in their reactors. In Europe, 14 countries out of 27 EU members now have nuclear power units:

Orange here shows countries using Western-type power units - manufactured in the USA (Westinghouse), Germany (Siemens), France (Areva), Great Britain (Magnox) or Canada (CANDU), countries using units are marked in red Soviet-made- blocks of the "Russian" type.

As you can see, the Warsaw Pact and the "NATO Bloc" are still visibly present on the political map of Europe, albeit in such a specific industry as nuclear energy - it turns out that nothing has changed in the reactor world over the past 20 years since the collapse of the USSR.

Standing apart in the picture of the division of Europe into East and West are Finland, which, like a smart calf, sucks "two mothers" at once, and Romania and Slovenia, on whose territory back in the days cold war Western-style reactors hit.

If someone accuses me of being biased and dividing the now free and now democratic world according to some "conditional basis", then I will only say that still, and 20 years after the collapse of the USSR, the supply of reactor fuel is made by almost 100% of the same suppliers (or their direct heirs) who once built the corresponding reactors.
Russia supplies fuel to Soviet model reactors, the West supplies fuel to Western reactors.

Yes, I know about Westinghouse's experience in Ukraine and the Czech Republic, and I know about Rosatom's negotiations with Sweden and other Western countries, but so far, in fact "West is West, East is East, and together they will never come together".
But counting is convenient. "Everyone is responsible for everything."

In total, in Europe as of 2012 there are 111 Western-type reactors and 20 Soviet-type reactors. Only reactors operating on common networks were taken into account, it makes no sense to count any research trifle for the purposes of our calculations.

With such a riot of nuclear energy - and, in general, it gives Europe 29.5% of all electricity generation, and this is main source electricity in Europe - there are practically no reserves of its own uranium in Europe. Once again, the atom is the main source of electricity in the European Union, while only 14 countries out of 27 EU members have reactors. More important than coal, more important than gas, more important than a hydroelectric power station, there is nothing to even say about windmills and photovoltaic cells, they are, as they say, "less than a pixel on the diagram." In France, in general, 78% of electricity is nuclear power.

There is no uranium. The first of the nuclear islands of the "flat world" of the West completely devoid of own sources uranium. All uranium is imported. France, according to the old colonial tradition, plunders and imports uranium from Niger and Gabon, the rest try to extract uranium wherever they can. In general, Russia, Australia, Canada and Niger provide four more than 70% of deliveries uranium to Europe.

Does Honduras worry about Europe's dependence on imported gas? Stop scratching her.
Europe is already totally dependent on uranium supplies, because its uranium train left back in the distant 1970s, when Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania exhausted their own deposits.

Now, according to the most conservative estimates, Europe annually needs about 21,000 tons natural uranium. It is mined in Europe around and around from this amount no more than 3%, that is, miserable 600 tons.

The remaining reserves of European uranium are about 50,000 tons. For all countries. For example, France has 100 tons of uranium, while the country's annual need for uranium is about 9,220 tons.

Germany, on the other hand, no longer has its own uranium. And, even taking into account the shutdown of power units, Germany needs about 1,800 tons of it per year. Pichalka. And sensible colonies, like France, Germany does not have either. After all, after the First World War, Namibia was taken from the Germans. And if Germany had a short-barreled Rossing mine, everything could have turned out completely differently.
But there is now someone in the world to buy uranium, and besides Germany. And Germany was invited to deal with the wind and the sun. And breathe deeper.

Let's look at another island of the "flat Western world". To Japan.
And again a similar situation. There is a nuclear island, but there is no nuclear fuel. Japan's own reserves are also described by the sad figure of 6,600 tons. And the country's need for the year - about 7,500 tons of uranium. Well, as a need ... in general, such a need. There is no longer a need, everything came out.
The Japanese failed to mine uranium in Kazakhstan, but I will tell you about Canada and Australia below. Well, as for France, which was a supplier of uranium to Japan, I think you yourself have already read above. There is no uranium in France, it would be enough to undress the colonies themselves.

The third island of the "flat world". USA.
Most interesting player
207,000 tons of uranium so far seems to be in the American storerooms, that is, in the bowels. But - as many as 104 commercial reactors are in operation. Almost as many as on the "Island of Europe". Accordingly, the consumption of uranium at the level of 20,000 tons natural uranium per year. As a result, you have to buy uranium from everywhere you can.

In fact, even less uranium is mined in the United States than shown in the diagram - no more than 5% of the consumed or about 1,000 tons per year. The figure of 14.2% was obtained taking into account the dilution of its own weapons-grade uranium from the US storerooms.

The share of Russia in the US uranium balance in the upper diagram is also crafty, because, in fact, Russian HEU, diluted LEU of various origins, gives about 38% need in reactor uranium in the US itself. Because, as we remember, only enriched uranium burns in reactors, and natural uranium last burned on Earth about 2 billion years ago.

Yes, in fact, the United States has in aggregate less in nuclear generation than Europe has - only about 20.3%. But they also cannot refuse to generate electricity at nuclear power plants, because, in fact, this is the cheapest generation. I didn't say it, the EIA wrote about it.

Here is a chart where all the moves are recorded:

Somehow everything is tough there with pixels near the lilac dots ...

In general, the United States has its own uranium for 10 years of reactor operation, and, like Europe and Japan, it has to be bought all over the world. True, Japan and Germany are already buying less uranium, so, as a certain comrade said, "the process has begun, it only needs to be expanded and deepened."

Well, now - about the main thing.
About what all this flat western nuclear world holding on. About Canadian elephants and about the Australian tortoise.

Let's start with the turtle. She's big, beautiful and clumsy
She is called Olympic Dam– Olympic Dam:

Meet the largest uranium deposit in the world.

Each mineral has such a unique object. For oil it is Gavar, for gas it is Urengoy and Severny, for gold it is Grasberg.
For uranium, this is the Olympic Dam.

The deposit is unique. Uranium is actually mined there, as by-product. And basically Plotina works on the extraction of silver, gold and copper. There is a demand for gold, copper and silver - it turns out to get a little more uranium. Well, a bit - about 55% of the total uranium production by the whole of Australia, or about 3,300 tons of uranium per year. No demand for "red" - no uranium. It is useless to carry money, neither in the morning nor in the evening - chairs (uranium) are issued strictly at the rate of production precious metals and copper.

3,800 tons per year? What the hell, the attentive reader will ask? So the same would not be enough for Japan, not to mention Europe or the USA! Why turtle?

And because in the "turtle" is about 996,000 tons of uranium. They counted the deposit to a depth of about 1,000 meters, and then, as in the case of coal, they decided that it would be completely indecent to count deeper. But the ore body goes to deeper levels, it’s just that miners are unlikely to get there ever in the foreseeable future.

It is easy to calculate that about 60% of the explored Australian uranium lies in the dam and about 18.5% of all world uranium reserves.
But to extract this uranium any faster than at the rate of 3,300 tons per year is practically unrealistic.

The problem is that in Australia, Greenpeace and Bellona have started up in one person. More precisely, in one muzzle.

If the native Australians wanted to take some kind of evil revenge on white people, they could hardly have come up with something more destructive than this homeless-looking dedugan:

Kevin Buzzacott, elder and activist.

Yes, Australians listen to this grandfather. And grandfather tells them about a "nuclear-free future", ecology and "traditions of Australian ancestors". Probably these are the traditions in which his ancestors in Australia did not leave anything larger than a kangaroo and built a wonderful civilization of a boomerang, a digging stick and a scorched savannah.

And so, in general, the fact remains - grandfather organized active resistance to the Olympic Dam expansion project and achieved its postponement, completely closed the Jabiluka mine project in Northern Australia, was seen at a dozen more uranium industry facilities in Australia. The bum is trying and puffing with might and main, for which he was awarded the Order of Lenin by the progressive public with various international awards.

To whom and why his activity is needed is an open question for me. Probably, uranium will be needed for the next generations of Australian natives, who will be able to enjoy again the joys of boomerangs, caves and 90% infant mortality. "Uncle Kev" will show the way to a bright past within the framework of "a single cave."

While Australia is mining about 6,000 tons of uranium per year and is unlikely to be able to produce more. Well, if "Uncle Kev" becomes prime minister, then in general, he will probably curtail the extraction of minerals from the bowels. In short, there is an idea of ​​who to move forward in Australia. Although these comrades swim up well themselves.

Now - about the Canadian elephants.
The first Canadian elephant is called the McArthur River. This single mine now produces about 14.5% of the world's uranium production - or 7,686 tons of uranium in 2011. Enough for Japan. Enough for the US now.
The remaining reserves of the mine are about 140,000 tons of uranium, but the main trump card of McArthur River is the uranium content in the rock, which is 15-16%.
For comparison, in Plotina, the rock contains only 0.05% uranium. That is, the Canadian elephant can mine uranium in any scenario, and the Australian tortoise - only at high prices, and then only together with copper, gold and silver.

The second Canadian elephant is smaller, but also gives in world production a significant 2.7%. It's called Rabbit Lake. Previously, it was similar to the first Canadian elephant - both in size and uranium content in the rock, but over 35 years of operation (1975-2011) the uranium content in the rock dropped from 5% to 0.73%, and the remaining reserves are only about 11,000 tons of uranium. In general, the elephant did a good job, it's time to rest. Considering that the second elephant produces about 1,460 tons of uranium, the reserves there will be enough for about 8-9 years.

Everyone has been waiting and still waiting for the third elephant, which is called Cigar Lake. In this elephant lies more about 90,000 tons Canadian uranium and this ore is even richer than on McArthur River, the percentage of uranium in the rock is 17.4%. The problem is that the third Canadian elephant lives deep under the lake and because of this has already drowned twice (the mine is constantly flooded and the launch date is postponed) - once in October 2006, and the second time - in June 2008.
They waited for the elephant so tensely and earnestly that all the Zhdani had already eaten, and uranium waited and waited, and it swelled exactly by 2007:

In general, the life-giving crisis of September 2008 was created not only by oil alone. With uranium, too, the clumsy came out.

Well, the attentive reader will say. But, if, in fact, with the rapid production of cheap natural uranium, everything in the world is so sad and neglected, then what is the author advocating for us? For the continuation of the sovereign banquet on 1/6 of the inhabited land somewhere else for 20-25 years?

No.
Comrades, our time has come. May Day is already on our street, and the holiday of common labor is in full swing.

And Russia has something to say about this to the world. Russia does not run around the world, Russia has its own uranium. There is Russian, there is Kazakh, there is Ukrainian uranium. There are about 500,000 tons uranium in enrichment tailings. There is weapons-grade uranium and there is weapons-grade plutonium. In general, there is a lot.

But the main answer is not in natural uranium. It's just that the time has finally come closed nuclear fuel cycle. Stop being afraid, gentlemen. It's time to get in the box. After all, everyone signed up as milk mushrooms back in the 1970s.

The world has not stood on the Australian tortoise and Canadian elephants for a long time.
And the world is not a flat plate with "nuclear islands" of the USA, Europe and Japan. The world is a sphere where there is no center and everything is tied to each other in one way or another. The threads are moving.

Nuclear power plants do not produce energy from air, they also use Natural resources– first of all, such a resource is uranium. If we compare two lists - ten countries with the largest reserves of uranium and - we will see that the lists do not coincide at all.

Explored uranium reserves in the world by countries (top 16)

• Australia - 1,706 thousand tons
• Kazakhstan - 679 thousand tons
• Russia - 505 thousand tons
• Canada - 493 thousand tons
• Niger - 404 thousand tons
• Namibia - 382 thousand tons
• South Africa - 338 thousand tons
• Brazil - 276 thousand tons
• USA - 207 thousand tons
• China - 199 thousand tons
• Mongolia - 141 thousand tons
• Ukraine - 117 thousand tons
• Uzbekistan - 91 thousand tons
• Botswana - 68 thousand tons
• Tanzania - 58 thousand tons
• Jordan - 40 thousand tons
• Other countries - 191 thousand tons

It can be seen that a quarter of the world's reserves are in Australia, which has nothing to do with nuclear energy. Significant resources are located in Kazakhstan, South Africa, Namibia, Brazil, Niger - countries that either do not have nuclear power plants at all, or have only a few reactors and often foreign company. This is how the French mine uranium in Niger for their own needs.

At the same time, countries such as the USA, China, especially India, France, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom - are experiencing an acute shortage of natural uranium. As a result, on this moment, a real war has been launched among these countries for control over uranium deposits, a particularly tough struggle is taking place in Africa, where civil wars begin for this, there is support for the "necessary" separatists, thousands of people die.

Similar “battles” also took place in Kazakhstan, which is adjacent to Russia, although the issue was resolved primarily with the help of bribes, bribery, judicial wars for the right to own resource sources. Now in Kazakhstan, as the CIS directory informs, there are several uranium mines aimed at export. Kazakhstan will never build.

But taking possession of a mine with uranium is half the battle, uranium for use at nuclear power plants must also be enriched, and this process is very laborious. Only 15 countries of the world have their own uranium enrichment facilities. Among them as major players are Russia, the USA, Japan, France, Germany, Great Britain, China and India. So there are smaller countries in terms of nuclear energy - Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Iran, Belgium, North Korea, Pakistan. An important point is also the fact that 6 countries - Russia, USA, UK, France, Germany and Belgium - account for 97% of the world's uranium enrichment capacity. As a result, major players, such as Rosatom, divide the world for themselves, constantly meeting at different sites - for example, at, or at Ukrainian nuclear power plants - and

I wrote how long the world would have enough gas, coal, oil. The picture looks quite optimistic: not that we will be provided with resources forever, but humanity has time. How it uses it is another matter. However, if consumption continues to grow, and in 20, 40, 100 years there will be no qualitative breakthrough in energy development, then the moment will definitely come when humanity will run into empty quarries and the wind whistling in the wells, and after that there will be a collapse. Rollback to the dark ages, to the technologies of the 19th century with no chance of revival.

We will not know this - only in the hoary old age of our unborn great-grandchildren can the fate of seeing the era of the decline of humanity fall.

But there is still time ahead of decades of increasing resource extraction and technology development. Future generations have a chance to build a prosperous future.

I am not under the illusion of seeing how comfortable electric cars will fill the autobahns, how thousands of cyclists will rush to work along the dedicated lanes of city arteries, knocking drops of the purest dew from the leaves of city trees. But some things can already change in the coming decades.

This is how the dynamics of world electricity production looks like (Year - billion kWh):

• 1890 - 9
• 1900 - 15
• 1914 - 37,5
• 1950 - 950
• 1960 - 2300
• 1970 - 5000
• 1980 - 8250
• 1990 - 11800
• 2000 - 14500
• 2005 - 18138,3
• 2007 - 19894,9

The world needs more electricity to hide from the dark in brightly lit cities, to attract flocks of shoppers to storefronts, and to grow, build, and mine.

37% of all energy produced is spent by industry: machines have to work 24 hours a day, they need a lot of electricity. Transport takes another 20%. For personal purposes, people around the planet use another 11% - and 5% remains for commercial consumption (lighting, heating and cooling of commercial buildings, water supply and sewerage). Where did the other 27% go? Lost in the production and transmission of electricity.

Such things, but what to do.

These types of fuels were used to generate electricity back in 1973:

Here's what the situation looked like in 2011:

Photo: Internet

Oil has risen in price, its place has been replaced by gas. Whoever did not have enough money for both, burns an ember. It is not so much that the number of hydroelectric power stations in the world has become smaller, they simply have not kept pace with the 4-fold increase in electricity generation. Nuclear power plants are stubbornly reclaiming their place under the sun, but not fast enough. Let's talk about them.

It is obvious that producing electricity by burning fuel oil, gas or coal is a stupid thing. It is much more reasonable to make polymers, plastics from them and extract rare earth metals. And uranium is such a resource - only suitable for electricity and war.

Generating electricity using nuclear technology is an extremely complex process. What is worth only the extraction of uranium.

In general, when it comes to uranium, you need to immediately understand: it is difficult. It is difficult to mine it, it is difficult to process it, it is difficult to run reactors on it, it is difficult to read about it, it is difficult to understand and difficult to talk about.

But I'll try.

Uranium is mined from uranium ores. It can be a variety of mineral formations, the main thing is that they contain uranium. At the same time, if there is more than 0.3% uranium, then these are already super-rich deposits, and if there are more than 59 thousand tons of them, then this is a very large deposit. That's it.

If you have such a deposit, then you mine ore from there. But there are less and less rich ores in the world, which means that difficulties begin already from this stage.

To extract uranium from poor ores, you need to pump underground, attention, sulfuric acid and then pump it back, already with uranium. Sulfuric acid, Carl! Who do you need to be to work in uranium mining? Sulfuric acid is sometimes not suitable, so another magic is used, which we will not dwell on.

From the solution that we received, it is necessary to isolate uranium, despite the fact that its content can be tenths per liter. This process requires multiple redox reactions to get rid of every unwanted travel companion.

Then it is required to obtain uranium in the solid state, but before that it must be purified from impurities. At this stage, nitric acid is already used.

And now you can load into the reactor? - Nah, now we begin the actual enrichment of uranium through isotope separation. At the output, we get an enriched mixture and a depleted one. There are a good dozen methods to achieve this. Does anyone else think that chemists really do this, and not magicians of the highest category?

And only after all the stages at the output we get TVELs - fuel elements filled with nuclear fuel pellets.

Complicated? In my opinion very much. And, which is significant, in terms of uranium production, Russia is in 6th place in the world, but in terms of enrichment, it is in the first place.

This is not for you to collect sedans.

In order to obtain 20 tons of uranium fuel, it is required to enrich 153 tons of natural uranium. However, one ton of enriched uranium releases as much heat as 1,350,000 tons of oil or natural gas.

Now I understand why burning gas for electricity is stupid?

Only after we have mined and enriched uranium, built an extremely complex nuclear power plant, launched it, we need to do something with spent nuclear fuel.

End-of-life fuel rods are very radioactive and very hot. After being removed from the reactor core, they must be kept for 5 years in the spent fuel pool, and then sent to the storage facility, where it will “exhale”, cooling down from radioactive radiation. After that, it will become easier to work with it and it will be possible to bury it forever, but it is better to recycle it, during which you can extract useful elements, and still send the waste to storage somewhere far away.

It is obvious that such production processes are clearly not only unaffordable for many countries, but also simply difficult to operate. Work culture in such a production is not an exercise in the spirit of fashionable corporations. The careless attitude here - wow! - and the Chernobyl exclusion zone is ready.

Hence the slow pace of construction of nuclear power plants around the world. Sticking to the gas pipe is still much easier. So maybe nuclear power is unprofitable?

I found one curious sign. True, on foreign language. The table shows data on the number of units of energy received for each spent. The higher the value, the more promising the direction.

Photo: IAEA, TecDoc

What we see: hydroelectric power plants are cool, especially big ones. They come first. But large and convenient rivers are not everywhere.

Wind generators (at the end of the plate) are also not bad, but strong and constant winds do not blow everywhere. Moreover, here the question arises of accumulating energy in reserve, the wind may subside. Gas, coal, and even more so the sun - all are not efficient enough, unlike nuclear energy.

Nuclear diffusion enrichment is a method of uranium enrichment by means of gaseous diffusion, which is complex and energy-consuming. But even he deals a serious blow to gas, not to mention coal.

Nuclear centrifuge enrichment - An enrichment method called gas centrifugation. Modern Method with reduced energy consumption, by the way, the main industrial method of isotope separation in Russia. A knockout blow to any other way to generate electricity, unless you have a good river in the gorge at hand that you can block.

Therefore, many want a nuclear power plant, but not everyone is able to build and operate it.

However, if you decide to purchase a pair for your country nuclear reactors, you know where to turn: RosAtom will offer you a range of safe nuclear power plants at an affordable price with after-sales service.

Russians have a hobby: collecting their cars and cursing them. But they also have a job: to build monstrously complex projects and be proud of them.

Only here is such a thing. There is a lot of uranium in the world, it is everywhere: in the earth, air, and water. Just getting it out is a challenge. The same reserves that can be extracted are quite limited.

There are only 5,327,200 tons of this good in the world, but 59,637 tons are mined annually, and production volumes continue to increase. The reserves will last for 89 years maximum.

Not very optimistic?

And what to do. But there are ways to delay the approach of the bottom:

• First, uranium is mined from old nuclear bombs. You can't keep them forever anyway.
• Secondly, uranium is mined from old deposits in a new way. Technology doesn't stand still.

However, already now 21% of the uranium consumed by the energy industry comes from secondary sources. So whether it will be possible to extend the atomic age by recycling old atomic bombs is not known.

Russia takes the 3rd place in terms of uranium deposits - 487,200 tons, 9.15% of the world (Australia is in the first place, Kazakhstan is in the second). In terms of production, as I said, we are in 6th place (3,135 tons per year) - we are not in a hurry to go anywhere. But in terms of enrichment - on the first, leaving competitors far behind. Our reserves at current production volumes will last for 155 years. And the stock of aging atomic bombs we have is more than impressive.

Can you relax?

Not worth it. Uranus is not a panacea. It is a very efficient resource, but dirty to produce and dangerous to handle. It is necessary to develop nuclear energy, but we need to move on.

Liberals ask what will happen to Russia when oil (gas, uranium, if you like) runs out?

By the time they run out, our homes will be powered by fusion power plants, and nuclear engines we will fly to neighboring planets for resources.

And no, I will not speak for all of humanity, but we - Russians - will do just that.

However, more on that in the next article.

is an management company Mining Division of Rosatom State Corporation, which consolidates Russian uranium mining assets. The mineral resource base of the holding itself at the end of 2017 is 523.9 thousand tons (2nd place among the largest uranium mining companies in the world).

The unique competencies concentrated in the company make it possible to carry out the entire range of industrial work - from geological exploration to the extraction and processing of natural uranium. This is important because Russian uranium mining assets are at different stages life cycle: from exploration (the Elkon project) to intensive industrial exploitation of deposits. The largest enterprise that is part of the control loop of the ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. is the Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Association (PIMCU, Zabaikalsky Krai) founded in 1968. It has been mining underground for many decades.

Two other enterprises are effectively developing - JSC Khiagda in the Republic of Buryatia and JSC Dalur in the Kurgan region, which extract uranium using a more environmentally friendly method of borehole in-situ leaching (SIL).

In contrast to the traditional mining method, which consists in extracting ore from the subsoil, crushing it and hydrometallurgical processing, with FLT, uranium ore remains in place. Through a system of wells, a leaching agent is pumped through the ore deposit, followed by pumping the uranium-containing solution to the surface, where it is sequentially processed to obtain final product- yellow cake or uranium oxide. During the SST, the soil cover is almost not disturbed, no waste rock dumps and waste are formed, and the state of the aquifer containing the ore after mining is restored to its initial state. This technology is much more economical and environmentally preferable than open pit or mine methods of uranium mining.

JSC Khiagda is estimated as the most promising asset of the holding. The expansion of its production base in the near future will allow reaching the design capacity of 1000 tons of uranium per year.

Other subsidiaries of JSC Atomredmetzoloto include service center JSC RUSBURMASH, which carries out exploration of natural resources both in Russia and abroad, is an engineering center of JSC VNIPIprotekhnologii, specializing in the design and construction of turnkey industrial facilities.

In addition to uranium mining, ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. also implements a number of projects related to the extraction of rare, rare earth and precious metals. One of key projects– development of the Pavlovsky lead-zinc silver-bearing deposit in the archipelago new earth, the mineral resource base of which will allow organizing one of the largest processing enterprises in Russia. The basis for this activity is many years of experience in the development of deposits in a wide variety of geoclimatic conditions. JSC Dalur plans to organize associated production of concentrate (up to 10 tons per year) and concentrate of rare earth metals (up to 450 tons per year). PIMCU mines coal at the Urtuysky open pit.

Thanks to investments and optimization of activities, labor productivity at ARMZ Uranium Holding Co. is growing, while production costs are decreasing. The introduction of advanced technologies also contributes to improved results. In particular, in 2015 JSC Dalur installed a yellow cake drying line with a design capacity of 120 kg of product per hour. The moisture content of the suspension of uranium compounds decreased from 30% to 2% due to the introduction of the line. In turn, this not only reduces logistics costs, but also provides convenience for further processing to obtain high-purity uranium compounds.

The foreign uranium mining assets of Rosatom State Corporation are united by the Uranium One holding. He has a diversified portfolio of international assets in Kazakhstan, the US and Tanzania. Mineral resource base of Uranium One, according to standards estimates international reporting, amounted to 216 thousand tons of uranium at the end of 2018 (compared to 2017, the value has not changed). The volume of uranium production in 2018 amounted to 4.4 thousand tons of uranium.

Extraction is carried out using environmentally friendly downhole in-situ leaching technology. Uranium One is committed to clean energy, maintains the highest standards in security environment, ensuring the protection of life and health of employees, actively participates in programs for the development of local communities in the territories of the company's presence.

Around the world, uranium is the main resource for the operation of nuclear power plants. The world leaders in uranium reserves, Australia and Kazakhstan, do not have a highly developed nuclear power industry. Deposits of uranium ores are not evenly distributed throughout the globe. Today, only 28 countries of the world extract valuable raw materials in their bowels, and only 19 world powers produce uranium. The bulk of 90% of the world's uranium reserves in the world are located in 10 countries, in the remaining 18 countries some crumbs of 10% of the fuel. We will tell you a little more about the countries with the largest uranium reserves.

Australia

Australia is the undisputed leader in uranium reserves in the world. According to the World Nuclear Association, about 31.18% of all world reserves uranium is located in this country, which in numerical terms means 661,000 tons U. Australia has 19 uranium deposits. The largest and most famous are where about 3 thousand tons of uranium are mined per year, Beaverley mines 1000 tons and Honemun 900 tons per year. The cost of uranium mining in the country is $40 kg.

Almost 80% of the world's uranium production is concentrated in the hands of 8 largest companies, of which three are from Australia: Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Paladin Energy. These corporations account for 18.73% of the world turnover. In terms of uranium production, Australia ranks third behind Kazakhstan and Canada.

Kazakhstan (Asia)

The second place in terms of uranium reserves belongs to Kazakhstan. In an Asian country is 11.81% of the world's fuel reserves, which equals 629,000 tons U. There are 16 developed deposits in Kazakhstan, where a valuable resource is extracted. The largest deposits are located in the Chusarai and Syrdarya uranium provinces: Korsan, Southern Inkai, Irkol, Kharasan, Western Mynkuduk and Budenovskoye.

The cost of production is around $40 per kg. In terms of uranium production per year, Kazakhstan confidently ranks first, producing 22574 tons of U per year, which is 37.85% of world production. It is not surprising that and largest manufacturer uranium in the world is the Kazakh company Kazatomprom, which annually produces 15.77% of all uranium on the planet.

Russia (Europe)

Russia ranks third in terms of uranium reserves; according to experts, its subsoil is 487200 tons U, what is 9.15% of world uranium resources. Despite the size of the country and the large reserves of uranium in Russia, there are only 7 deposits, almost all of them are located in Transbaikalia.

More than 90% of the uranium mined in the country comes from the Chita region. The Streltsovskoye ore field, which includes more than ten uranium ore deposits, largest center is the city of Krasnokamensk. The remaining 5-8% of uranium in the country is located in Buryatia and the Kurgan region. The cost of enriched ore is $40 per kg. In terms of uranium production, Russia is in sixth place, producing 3135 tons of U per year, which is equal to 5.26% of the total world production. largest Russian company uranium producer APM3-Uranium One, is one of the leaders in the global uranium market in the world and produces 13.68% of the world's total uranium.

Canada (North America)

The leading place in terms of uranium ore reserves in North America and the fourth in the world belongs to Canada. The total uranium reserves in the country are 468,700 tons U, which is 8.80% of world reserves. Canada owns unique "unconformity" type deposits, the ores of which are rich and compact, the largest of which are MacArthur River and Cigar Lake. A uranium deposit is being developed in the country Waterbury Project”, consisting of several deposits, the area of ​​​​which is 12417 hectares.

Uranium reserves in Canadian Saskatchewan are comparable to 4 billion tons of coal or 19 million barrels of oil. All in all, Canada is developing 18 uranium deposits. The cost of uranium mining in Canada is one of the lowest in the world and is $34 per kg. In terms of uranium production, North Americans are second only to Kazakhstan and occupy the second place, producing 9332 tons of U per year in the world. The Canadian company Cameco ranks 2nd in terms of fuel production, producing 9144 tons of U.

Niger (Africa)

In Africa, only three countries are mining uranium, the largest reserves of the resource are located in Niger. Uranium reserves are 421,000 tons U, this is the fifth indicator in the world, in percentage terms it is 7.9%. The largest deposits in the country are: Imuraren, Madauela, Arlit and Azelit, in total there are 12 of them in the country. The cost of mined uranium in Niger is 34-50 US dollars per kg. In terms of uranium production, Niger ranks fourth with 4528 tons U per year.

Republic of South Africa (Africa)

South Africa lags far behind Niger in terms of uranium ore reserves, and ranks sixth in the ranking of the World Nuclear Association with 279100 tons U.

In South Africa, uranium is mined as a by-product at gold deposits. The Dominion field is the largest open and underground way working off. Large mines include Western Ariez, Palabora, Randfontein and Waal River, where the tailings of the gold mining industry are mainly worked out. The average cost of uranium mining in an African country is $40 per kg. In terms of uranium production, South Africa lags far behind the leading countries in this industry, producing 540 tons of U per year, which is the twelfth figure in the world.

Brazil (South America)

Rounding out the magnificent seven countries with the largest uranium reserves in the world is the representative of South America, Brazil. According to the WNA, the South American country is slightly ahead of Namibia, Brazil's score is 276,700 tons U. 65% of uranium ore reserves are mined open way. The country has three large deposits: Lagoa Real, Santa Quiteria and Pocos de Caldas and three middle ones: Figueira, Espinharas and Amorinopolis.

The cost of uranium mining in Brazil is less than $40. The country produces 198 tons of U per year, which is the 15th indicator in the world. The reserves of uranium ores and uranium fully meet the needs of the country and in the future it is possible to export a valuable resource to other consumer countries.