Russia to invest $250 million in uranium exploration, production in Argentina

Russia and Argentina signed Tuesday a memorandum of understanding to advance uranium exploration and production in the South American country, which already generates 5% of its electricity with three heavy-water nuclear reactors.

The deal, sealed during a visit by Argentine President Mauricio Macri to Moscow, could bring up to $250 million in investments into the country’s sector, according to Argentina's foreign ministry official statement (in Spanish).

The agreement includes Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom commitment to build a nuclear power station in Argentina, which had already revealed plans to build other two new nuclear reactors in the second half of this year. The $13 billion-plan will be financed mostly by Chinese organizations, the article says.

Russia and Argentina vowed to apply an extraction method known as “in-situ recovery” (ISR), developed by Canada’s Uranium One, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom, and the world's fourth-largest uranium producer.

It involves the extraction of uranium-bearing water that is then filtered through resin beads and, according to Argentina's foreign ministry, is the most cost-efficient technique, which also has a minimum environmental impact, as it doesn’t require soil removal.

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