Areva Offers India Stakes in African Mines, Jain Says

Areva Offers India Stakes in African Mines, Jain Says

By Archana Chaudhary

June 5 (Bloomberg) — Areva SA, the world’s biggest maker of atomic reactors, has offered India stakes in African uranium mines to ensure supplies for fuel-starved plants, the head of the nation’s monopoly nuclear generator said.

State-run Nuclear Power Corp. of India is considering investing in as many as four mines, including projects in South Africa and Nigeria, Chairman Shreyans Kumar Jain said in an interview in Mumbai. Patricia Marie, a spokeswoman for Areva in Paris, confirmed “strategic talks” with partners to develop some mines and declined to comment on specific proposals.

India would gain resources for its atomic expansion after Australia, with the world’s largest known uranium reserves, refused to sell to countries that haven’t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Areva is building the first large- capacity reactor project in the South Asian nation, which plans a 14-fold increase in nuclear generation by 2030………………………Areva, which is building the first large-capacity atomic project in India with overseas equipment, will also supply uranium to run the reactors for 60 years, Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said in February after signing a preliminary sales agreement………………………..

The two companies are waiting for France’s parliament to approve an inter-governmental agreement before raising 3 billion euros ($4.25 billion) for the project, he said.

A final accord may be signed next year after obtaining French parliamentary and regulatory approvals, Jain said.

Areva Offers India Stakes in African Mines, Jain Says (Update1) – Bloomberg.com

June 6, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, politics | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive, uranium