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Gold/Mining/Energy : WWS.T World Wide Minerals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tango who wrote (341)	2/15/1998 11:29:00 PM
From: R.A.K.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 784

Tuesday February 10, 6:42 am Eastern Time Mongolia says Canada uranium deal back on track By Irja Halasz ULAN BATOR, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Mongolian authorities said a uranium mining deal with Canada's World Wide Minerals Ltd (WWM)(WWS.TO - news) will go ahead as planned. Mongolian officials in November said the agreement between Toronto-based WWM and companies from Russia and Mongolia to exploit uranium resources in eastern Mongolia was not legally valid. ''The issue is settled now,'' an official at the Prime Minister's office said late on Monday. ''The government has come to the conclusion that there is no reason to cancel the agreement with WWM.'' ''The dispute will be settled without hurting the interest of WWM,'' Jargalsaikhan, the head of the Mongolian Mineral Authority, said in an interview. He said the Mongolian government would discuss changes to the agreement with the Russian and Mongolian companies at a government meeting in March. In particular, ownership of the Mardai mine in eastern Dornod province of Mongolia would be reviewed, but none of the changes would affect WWM. Mongolia has an agreement with the former Soviet Union dating back to 1981 to exploit the Mardai uranium deposit. That accord is still formally in effect. Russia's Priargunskiy Mining Chemical and Mongolia's state-owned Mongol Erdene signed an agreement in 1995 with WM Mining Co LLC of Denver, Colorado, granting the U.S. firm a 58 percent stake in the uranium joint venture. The balance was shared between the Russian and Mongolian sides. WWM later bought the U.S. company's stake. The Mineral Authority said Mongolia's current Democratic Union coalition government did not agree with the uranium deal, which was signed under a previous government in 1995 and technically contradicted the 1981 agreement. ''There is a legal conflict between those agreements, which needs to be solved,'' Jargalsaikhan said. ''We expect those issues to be settled in the (March) meeting.'' He said the Mardai mine could start production in the second half of this year. ''The Mineral Authority fully supports this project,'' he said. Officials for WWM were not immediately available for comment. WWM has said the uranium would be sold mostly to American nuclear utilities after processing in Russia or Europe.