OREANDA-NEWS. July 2, 2009. In 2009 Atomredmetzoloto OJSC (ARMZ) is planning to increase its uranium production by 23% to 4,500 tons due to active work in the territory of Kazakhstan, says ARMZ’s report.

Earlier the company forecasted just 12% growth.

The report says that this optimism is due to the purchase of Effective Energy N.V. company from the co-owner of Metalloinvest Vasily Anisimov. Effective Energy N.V. holds stakes in two Kazakh uranium JVs: 50% in Qaratau and 25% in Aqbastau. In June ARMZ agreed with Uranium One to exchange its stake in Qaratau for a minority share in Uranium One (16.6%). Experts say that this year the total uranium production in the world will grow by 11% to 48,200 tons.

The report says that the crisis may somewhat affect ARMZ’s plans. Presently, the big producers, mining almost 90% of total uranium, are better protected from the crisis. The biggest producers in 2008 were Rio Tinto, Cameco, Areva and Kazatomprom. ARMZ was the fifth with the company’s income and net profit totaling 13.25bln RUR and 206mln RUR, respectively.