Anfield Energy Inc has agreed to acquire the Charlie in-situ leach uranium project in Wyoming from Cotter Corp, as part of a strategy to create a mine and mill production complex in the state. Meanwhile, Energy Fuels Inc is pursuing opportunities to process new and additional alternate feed sources in order to allow the USA's only operating conventional uranium mill to extend its current operating campaign.

Russia has opened its uranium mining industry to foreign investment with an agreement signed yesterday between the Russia-China Investment Fund for Regional Development, ARMZ Uranium Holding, and Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Union (PIMCU). ARMZ and PIMCU are subsidiaries of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

India is planning a tenfold increase in uranium production over the next 15 years, Minister of State Jitendra Singh told the country's parliament yesterday. State company Uranium Corporation of India Ltd has outlined expansion plans to meet the Department of Atomic Energy's vision of achieving self-sufficiency in uranium production.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) have both completed their investment of some EUR250 million (USD307 million) to acquire 5% stakes in Orano, the former Areva nuclear fuel cycle activities.

Uranium production from the Inkai joint venture in Kazakhstan is forecast to increase by more than 25% this year, according to a new NI 43-101 technical report filed by 40%-owner Cameco. The operation is forecast to reach maximum production of 10.4 million pounds U3O8 per year in 2020.

Berkeley Energia is finalising arrangements for the start of construction at the Salamanca uranium mine in Spain, the company said in its latest quarterly report published on 23 January. With full funding in place, Berkeley is undertaking detailed final reviews and has selected Sanchez y Lago as its preferred mining contractor.

Russia and Argentina have signed a memorandum of understanding on uranium exploration and mining in the South American country. Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is also proposing to supply Argentina with a nuclear power plant.

Mining operations have resumed after a four-year break at the US Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. A continuous mining machine has begun cutting into panel 8 in the underground salt formation, work that was halted following separate underground events in early 2014.

The USA's two main uranium producers yesterday filed a petition with the US Department of Commerce seeking an investigation into the effects of uranium imports on US national security. Energy Fuels Inc and Ur-Energy are calling for a limit to imports that would reserve 25% of the US nuclear market for domestic uranium production.

The Minerals Council of Australia has repeated its call for the Australian government to lift a ban on the development of nuclear power. Australia must reform its taxation, industrial relations, environmental and energy policies to shield the nation from future economic downturn and deliver stronger economic growth, the council said in its pre-Budget submission to the federal government.

An international team led by the University of Sheffield has discovered that the toxic element arsenic prevents uranium from an abandoned mine in the UK migrating into rivers and groundwater. The discovery could help in the remediation of former uranium mines and other radioactively contaminated areas around the world, the scientists believe.

Finnish multi-metal company Terrafame has been granted permission by the country's nuclear regulator to recover a small quantity of uranium while it experiments with chemical processes it will use in an actual uranium recovery plant. The company plans to start producing uranium as a by-product from its Sotkamo mine towards the end of 2019.