During his tour of the Gobi
provinces, Prime Minister S.Batbold visited sites in Dornogobi where Areva is
conducting uranium exploration operations. The French State-owned company has
been working as Kojegobi in Mongolia since 1997 and operates in Dornogobi and
Sukhbaatar provinces. It hopes to start producing “yellow powder” from uranium
in 2015.

Company officials explained
their activities to the Prime Minister, who stressed the need to work
transparently and in close cooperation with local citizens. The company told
him that they had organized two meetings, in Dornogobi and Zuunbayan, to give
information to the people. They also said Mongolians are being trained in
Kazakhstan and France to fill jobs that will be available soon. Areva is also
giving assistance to local health and education programs.

Batbold asked the company to
cooperate with the Nuclear Energy Agency to produce value added items.