Publications

Survey of Energy Resources 2007

Uranium Country Notes

Ukraine

Since the start of exploration for commercial resources of uranium in 1944, a total of 21 deposits have been discovered, mostly located in south-central Ukraine, between the rivers Bug and Dnepr. The most important ore bodies are Vatutinskoye, Severinskoye and Michurinskoye, all in central Ukraine. Uranium has been produced since 1947, initially by the Prednieprovskiy Chemical Plant and since 1959 also by the Zheltiye Vody production centre. The first plant ceased producing uranium in 1990; the 2005 output of the other facility was some 800 tonnes, 80% of its nominal production capacity. All currently processed ore comes from underground operations at the Ingul'skii mine on the Michurinskoye deposit and from the Vatutinskii mine on the Vatutinskoye deposit. In 2005 Ukraine was the ninth largest producer of uranium, accounting for 1.9% of the world total.

Ukraine's uranium resources have been substantially revised for the 2005 edition of the Red Book, largely as a result of a re-assessment of the production costs applicable to the Severinskoye deposit. RAR (at up to US$ 80/kgU) are now put at 76 150 tonnes in situ, of which 58 498 is deemed to be recoverable. Further Identified Resources are represented by 10 760 tonnes of in-situ RAR (8 208 recoverable) at US$ 80-130/kgU and 30 070 tonnes of in-situ IR (23 130 recoverable) at up to US$ 130/kgU.

Undiscovered resources (in situ) comprise 15 300 tonnes of PR and 120 000 tonnes of SR (both recoverable at up to US$ 130/kgU), plus 135 000 tonnes of SR (with cost range unassigned).

In separate developments reported in late 2006, an Australian company and a Russian state concern were seeking joint ventures with Ukraine to develop uranium deposits.