China, India and Brazil aren’t the only BRICs pursuing strategic natural resources: Russia too is on the hunt. Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy group, is expanding its worldwide uranium reserves with the $1.15bn acquisition of a project in Tanzania. And it is looking for other deposits, having already invested in Namibia and Canada.
ARMZ Uranium, Rosatom’s mining division, plans to acquire the Tanzanian assets by taking over its owner, Australia-based Mantra Resources in an agreed bid. Mantra said on Wednesday that it had recommended the offer to its shareholders. Mantra’s principal asset is the Mkuju River Project in Tanzania, which holds 101.4 million pounds of uranium.
“Mantra’s flagship asset, the Mkuju River Project, is a world class deposit,” ARMZ Director General Vadim Zhivov said. “We believe Mantra will complement our portfolio of assets and is consistent with our stated strategy of acquiring low cost, long life, geographically diverse assets.”
ARMZ has offered A$8.00 per share, or A$1.16 billion, for the firm, 15.5 percent above its 20-day average price on the Sydney exchange.
As the FT has reported, ARMZ, the world’s fourth largest uranium producer, has most of its mines in Russia and Kazakhstan, but it is rapidly expanding in the face of a growing demand for nuclear fuels. Last month it gained final approval for a $610m bid that allows it to increase to 51 per cent its stake in Canada’s Uranium One a company with operations in Kazakhstan, the US and Australia.
Rosatom first went into Africa in 2008 with a joint venture with SWA Uranium Mines in Namibia. There was a time when such aggressive expansion in the nuclear industry by a Russian state company would have raised hackles in Washington. But not now. The US relies heavily on imported uranium, including from Russia. And, when it comes to natural resources acquisitions, it is more concerned about China than Russia.
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