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Saghand Uranium Mine

  • Location
    Northeast of Yazd province in central Iran desert, Kavir
  • Type
    Nuclear-Mining and Milling
  • Facility Status
    Operational

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About

The Saghand Uranium Mine extracts low-grade underground uranium ore, for processing in the associated Ardakan Yellowcake Production Plant. 1 Officials announced the mine had entered operation in April 2013. 2 Starting in 1989, Iran reportedly received assistance from China and Russia with both exploration and construction. 3 The maximum projected production output of the Saghand facility is 50 tons of uranium per year. 4 There are approximately 1400 tons of uranium reserves in the ore field. 5 Construction of the extraction infrastructure had nearly been completed in 2004 with production expected to begin in 2006. 6

Glossary

Uranium
Uranium is a metal with the atomic number 92. See entries for enriched uranium, low enriched uranium, and highly enriched uranium.

Sources

  1. “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 15 November 2004, www.iaea.org.
  2. “Yellowcake production plant at Ardakan to come on stream on Tuesday,” IRNA, 8 April 2013, www3.yazd.irna.ir/en.
  3. David Albright, Jacqueline Shire, and Paul Brannan, “Is Iran Running out of Yellowcake?” Institute for Science and International Security, 11 February 2009, www.isis-online.org.
  4. “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 15 November 2004, www.iaea.org.
  5. Franz J. Dahlkamp, Uranium Deposits of the World: Asia (Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2009), p. 177.
  6. David Albright, Jacqueline Shire, and Paul Brannan, “Is Iran Running out of Yellowcake?” Institute for Science and International Security, 11 February 2009, www.isis-online.org.

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