Mining News
Ukraine to invest more than $333 million in its uranium mining industry over five years, ministry says
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(Kitco News) - According to the concept for the development of the nuclear energy industry prepared by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, Ukraine intends to fully cover requirements of its nuclear power plants with domestically produced uranium from 2027, TASS reported today.
Kiev is planning to reach this target by developing the reserves of the Novokonstantinovskoye and Aprelskoye uranium deposits. For these purposes, Ukraine is planning to allocate investments in the amount of 9.092 billion hryvnias (more than $333 million) over five years, of which 8.042 billion hryvnias ($295 million) will be from the state budget.
In Ukraine, the only uranium mining and processing enterprise is the Vostochny Mining and Processing Plant (VostGOK). Currently, domestic uranium production covers up to 40% of Ukrainian nuclear power plants needs, with the rest of required uranium supplied from abroad, including from Russia.
According to the World Nuclear Association, Ukraine produced 400 tonnes of uranium in 2020, 50% less than in 2019 (800 tonnes).
With uranium resources of more than 93,000 tonnes, Novokonstantinovskoye is the largest uranium deposit in Europe. In 2011, VostGOK began pilot uranium production at Novokonstantinovskoye.
