Russian, Japanese firms may up Uranium One stakes

Russian state nuclear firm and a consortium of Japanese companies may increase their stakes in Canadian miner Uranium One to 20 percent each, a Uranium One executive said on Wednesday.

Uranium One Chief Financial Officer Robin Merrifield also said his company was considering buying another Kazakh deposit.

Earlier this month, Russia's Rosatom secured a 17 percent stake in Uranium One in exchange for a 50 percent stake in the Karatau uranium mine in Kazakhstan.

Rosatom and a Japanese consortium including Toshiba Corp, Tokyo Electric Power Co and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation may each increase their stakes to 19.95 percent, Merrifield told reporters.

He said Uranium One had an option to buy into another Kazakh deposit, Akbastau.

"We have six months to consider the acquisition," he told reporters.

Merrifield did not say how much the new deposit could cost.

He declined to comment on the progress of a criminal probe against a former Kazakh uranium executive who is accused of illegally selling a stake in one of the deposits currently owned by Uranium One following its acquisition of UrAsia Energy.

"The Energy Ministry made its checks twice, both when UrAsia Energy bought the assets in 2005 and when Uranium One bought UrAsia in 2007," Merrifield said.

"Both deals were approved by the ministry."

After launching the probe which triggered a significant drop in Uranium One's share price, Kazakhstan sought to reassure investors saying it would honour all deals with foreign companies.

"We are doing all we can to help the investigation," Merrifield said.

"We hope to reach an agreement as soon as we can."