According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Uranium One will not be permitted to export uranium from deposits within the United States after the company comes under the control of Atomredmetzoloto.

Mr. Vadim Zhivov, who is now the director of the Russian uranium-mining company Atomredmetzoloto is expected to receive an appointment as the president of the Canadian company Uranium One. The companies are now finalizing an asset-swap transaction.

Currently, Mr. Zhivov is a member of the board of directors of Uranium One. According to company sources, the current president of Uranium One, Mr. Jean Nortier will become the CEO of the new company after the completion of the asset swap transaction. Experts anticipate that the asset swap will be complete by the end of the year.

As of the end of August, Mr. Zhivov held

100 000 ordinary shares of Uranium One, equivalent to 0.02 percent of the company’s capital. Mr. Zhivov also owned an option to buy additional shares that could allow him to double his stake in the Canadian company. As it is, Mr. Zhivov owns the second biggest block of shares of all the directors and managers. The chairman of Uranium One’s board of directors Mr. Ian Telfer controls the largest stake of 800 000 shares, equivalent to 0.14 of the company’s capital.     

At the present time, Uranium One finished the initial stage of the asset swap process. The ultimate goal is for Atomredmetzoloto to take over Uranium One, issuing 178 127 165 new shares of stock. Atomredmetzoloto subscribed to the shares for USD 610 million. Its stake in Uranium One consequently went up to 40.85 percent.

During the exchange, Uranium One will stand to gain a stake of 50 percent in the Kazakhstan-based joint venture of Akbastau and a stake of 49.67 percent in the Zarechnoye venture. These stakes in both Akbastau and Zarechnoye currently belong to Atomredmetzoloto. This transfer is expected to take place by the end of the year. It will constitute the second and the final stage of the asset-swap scheme. At the conclusion of the transaction, Atomredmetzoloto will hold 51 percent of Uranium One. 

Atomredmetzoloto will issue a dividend in the amount of USD 1.06 per share to Uranium One shareholders at the end of December 2010.

Mr. Zhivov became the director of Atomredmetzoloto in 2007, presiding over the consolidation of uranium assets of the state-owned nuclear power corporation Rosatom. Prior to his appointment, he served as the deputy director general of Tekhsnabexport, the company responsible for all exports of nuclear materials from Russia. Before entering the atomic power sector, Mr. Zhivov was the vice president of Kepitel from 2004 to 2006. He also worked as the deputy director for corporate construction of Gazprommedia. 

Uranium One is the owner of a 70-percent stake in the ore field of Akdala and Yuzhny Inkai located in Kazakhstan. The company controls 50 percent of Karatau and 20 percent of Kharasan-1 in Kazakhstan.

 The company also has significant assets in the U.S., Australia, and South Africa. The company’s revenues from sales in 2009 were USD 152 million. Total extraction volumes amounted to 1 300 tons. The company’s reserves of uranium are estimated to be larger than 15 000 tons. The cost for extraction of uranium is roughly USD 40 per kilogram.   

The Akbastau field netted 390.4 tons of uranium ore in 2009. The deposit’s reserves are estimated at 3 000 tons. Production at Zarechnoye reached 494 tons. The site is thought to contain as much as 2 000 tons of uranium. 

Atomredmetzoloto’s total stated reserves are 546 000 tons. Last year’s extraction volume was 4 624 tons. The company’s controlling shareholder is the state-owned nuclear power corporation Rosatom, which currently owns 80.34 percent of the company. 

Atomredmetzoloto acquired a 50-percent-stake in the Karatau venture and a 25-percent-stake in the Akbastau venture in 2008. In 2009, the company traded its ownership interest in Karatau for a minority interest in Uranium One. At the present time, Akbastau is jointly controlled by Atomredmetzoloto and the Kazakhstan-based company Kazatomprom. The company began production in 2009. The current volume of production is 1 million pounds of uranium annually. Future plans call for raising the output volume to 7.8 million.   

Atomredmetzoloto and Kaz-atomprom both have 49.67-percent stakes in the Zarechnoye venture. The remaining block of shares belongs to Kyrgyzstan. Production at the site started in 1997. As of 2008, the deposit produced 400 000 pounds of uranium. Production in 2009 was 1.3 million pounds. In 2014, once extraction activities are launched in the south section of the site, yearly volumes of production can be as high as 4.1 million pounds.