Karpinsky Institute specialists took part in the symposium ‘Uranium: Geology, Resources, Production’

The event was held at FSBI VIMS, the participants of the organizing committee were the Federal Agency for Mineral Resources, Rosatom State Corporation, and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The symposium included the following topics:

• World uranium mineral resource base and uranium raw material state of the market.
• Modern technologies of uranium deposit forecasting, prospecting and evaluation.
• Main areas of geological exploration for uranium.
• Innovative technologies for mining and processing of uranium ores and related components.
• Modern methods of studying uranium raw materials.

At the plenary session the reports of the Organizing Committee of the Symposium were presented, reflecting the results of the industry development and directions of its further development. Of particular interest was the report of V.S. Svyatetsky, First Deputy Director General of Rosatomnedra AO on the topic ‘Current state and prospects of development of the uranium mining industry of the Russian Federation’, which stated that in order to minimize the search for raw material supply for power units of NPPs of the Russian Federation, the basic source of raw materials should be natural uranium mined at Russian deposits. At the same time, the target benchmark for uranium production in Russia should be 6,000 tons of uranium per year. Uranium production in Russia in 2024 was 2,796 tons. This opens up additional prospects for the development of prospecting and exploration in the near future, both within the known uranium-ore areas and in other uranium-bearing territories of Russia.

The Karpinsky Institute staff prepared 4 reports: Y.B. Mironov ‘Mineral resources base of Mongolia’, A.V. Molchanov ‘Forecasting and prospecting in new areas of the Russian Federation’, V.A. Mikhailov, V.Z. Fuchs ‘Uraniferousness of the Nông Sơn Trough (Vietnam)’, E.N. Afanasyeva, A.A. Petrova ‘Gold-uranium mineralization of Eastern Karelia’.

The second part of the symposium was devoted to the processes of increasing uranium production, as well as the study of technology for the extraction of uranium and other elements. A significant event was the participation of representatives of Uzbek and Kazakh organizations in the symposium.

In conclusion, the main proposals for the development of uranium mineral resources base of the Russian Federation were formulated.

• Combine the efforts of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Rosnedra and Rosatom to identify uranium sites.
• Revise prospecting and evaluation works in the areas of operating enterprises in order to reassess previously known uranium sites.
• Create decent conditions for attracting qualified specialists to uranium geology.

The proceedings of the symposium will be published in 2025 in Journal No. 8, Exploration and Mineral Resources Conservation.