RIA Novosti cited Mr Sergei Kiriyenko the head of the Russian civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom as saying that the government of Mongolia could soon decide on establishing JV with Russia to develop a Mongolian uranium deposit.

At a meeting with Mr Vladimir Putin PM of Russia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr Sergei Kiriyenko said that Russia had signed an intergovernmental deal on the uranium joint venture early in 2009 but the project stalled due to the change of government in Mongolia.

Mr Sergei Kiriyenko said that already after the election, we signed an agreement with the new government and in January signed a specific protocol. The government of Mongolia has made a decision on the Dornod uranium deposit. This deposit is in the ownership of the government of Mongolia.

He said that Russia had transferred all the constituent documents on the joint venture to the Mongolian side and the secretary of the Mongolian Security Council confirmed to Rosatom that a final decision on contributing the deposit to the joint venture would be made soon. Work on the deposit could be launched quickly as the deposit was located 300 kilometers from Russia's neighboring Chita Region where a mining enterprise was situated and whose specialists and equipment could be used in the uranium deposit development.

He added that Rosatom increased production of uranium by 25% in 2009 and has set the task of increasing uranium output by at least 11% in 2010.