OREANDA-NEWS. September 11, 2009. By the end of this year ARMZ is going to announce a tender for selection of general designer of Elkon Mining Complex, the enterprise that is supposed to develop the Elkon uranium deposit in Yakutia, President of ARMZ Vadim Zhivov told journalists during a WNA symposium.

The company has almost completed the feasibility study of the project but sees some more ways to optimize it and to reduce the costs. For this purpose, at first, ARMZ will implement the project on its own and, only then, will involve foreign partners in its capital. “We don’t want to make a bad bargain. We are not very much interested in selling a stake in the project at the current cost without considering future possibilities,” Zhivov said.

Particularly, the company is considering the possibility of increasing Elkon’s gold production. Besides, ARMZ will search for optimal ways to ensure the efficiency of its uranium technologies and, thereby, to increase the cost of the project.

Zhivov said that the All-Russian Design and Research Institute of Industrial Technology would be given to ARMZ. The company is also going to set up its own engineering center.

The company continues its cooperation with Cameco (Canada) under prospecting projects in North-Western Russia. The Russian-Canadian JV “Karhu” may be started up by the end of this year. That company has already obtained all necessary licenses.