Japanese trading house Mitsubishi said Wednesday it will jointly develop a uranium mine in Canada to supply the world's growing number of nuclear power plants.
Mitsubishi Development, fully owned by Mitsubishi, and Canada's CanAlaska Uranium agreed to jointly undertake a uranium exploration project in the Athabasca Basin in northwestern Canada, the Japanese firm said.
The Athabasca Basin is the world's leading source of uranium, producing about 30 percent of the global supply of primary uranium, the company said.
Mitsubishi will invest about 11 million Canadian dollars (9.6 million US) into the project, in which the subsidiary has a 50 percent stake with CanAlaska holding the rest, the company said.
"Global uranium demand is expected to grow strongly with the increase in the number of global nuclear reactors, which are considered environmentally friendly," the company said in a statement.
"The project aims for a stable supply of uranium product for nuclear power generators and thus contributes to the prevention of further global warming."
The United States is ending a moratorium on building nuclear reactors. But in Japan, government hopes to build more nuclear reactors have been set back by public concerns about safety.
Resource-poor Japan relies on nuclear generation for some 30 percent of its electricity with annual uranium consumption of about 8,700 tons a year.
Japan imports nearly all of its oil from the Middle East.
Source: Agence France-Presse
