Russian state uranium firm buys Kazakh assets

MOSCOW, March 10 (Reuters) - Russian state uranium holding Atomenergoprom said on Tuesday it had bought stakes in uranium deposits located in Kazakhstan from tycoon Vladimir Anisimov for an undisclosed sum through its unit Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ).

State-controlled Gazprombank, the banking arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), said in a separate statement it had provided ARMZ with a loan for the acquisition of the assets.

It did not reveal the size of the loan.

ARMZ bought a 50 percent stake in part of the Budyonnovskoye deposit, which has proven and probable reserves of 18,200 tonnes of uranium and estimated reserves of 31,600 tonnes of the radioactive metal, the Gazprombank statement said.

It has also bought a 25 percent stake in another part of the Kazakh deposit with proven and probable reserves of 25,100 tonnes and an estimated 58,900 tonnes, it said.

The remaining stakes in the deposit belong to Kazakh state atomic company Kazatomprom.

"A complex programme of Russian-Kazakh cooperation in the peaceful use of atomic energy envisages joint annual output of uranium by ARMZ and Kazatomprom in Kazakhstan at 6,000 tonnes and eventually at 8,000 tonnes," Atomenergoprom said.

ARMZ was the world's fifth-largest uranium producer and the second-largest owner of uranium reserves last year, Gazprombank said. (Reporting by Aleksandras Budrys, editing by Will Waterman)