The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has signed framework agreements with the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, a precondition for the implementation of projects under an EBRD fund to deal with the remediation of former uranium mines and processing plants.

Kazakhstan plans to produce 10% less uranium in 2017 than previously planned in response to ongoing oversupply in the uranium market, Kazatomprom chairman Askar Zhumagaliyev announced today.

Industrias Nucleares do Brasil has started work on its Engenho mine in Brazil's Bahia state. The company said the move was a "decisive step" towards resumption of domestic uranium production.

Kazakhstan, producer of more than 20,000 tonnes of natural uranium per year, has welcomed security guidance recently developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Vienna-based agency said yesterday that Kazakhstan - which established a "comprehensive system for the control and physical protection of natural uranium" in 2010 - had contributed to an IAEA publication entitled Nuclear Security in the Uranium Extraction Industry and issued in February this year.

Developing production capacity to meet the world's uranium needs, rather than the availability of uranium resources, is a likely challenge over coming years according to the latest edition of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency joint report on uranium resources, production and demand.

Toro Energy has redesigned the process flow sheet for its Wiluna uranium project in Western Australia to reduce the cost and size of the project's processing facility, following successful beneficiation and process design studies, the company announced today.

Officials from KazAtomProm - the world's biggest uranium producer - and the Kazakh government have visited China for talks on enhanced cooperation in the uranium mining and nuclear power sectors. The Kazakh delegation was headed by Askar Mamin, first deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan.

Western Uranium Corporation has signed a letter of intent with Pinon Ridge Corporation to use its ablation mining technology at uranium recovery facilities at the Pinon Ridge mill site in Colorado. The technology is currently being assessed by state regulators.

US uranium producer Energy Fuels Inc has entered into a contract to secure additional quantities of a uranium-bearing alternate feed material for its White Mesa mill in Utah, the company announced today.

Infrastructure development is under way at Berkeley Energia's Salamanca uranium project as the company prepares for main construction at the Spanish site next year.

Bannerman Resources has approved an extension of its Etango heap leach demonstration plant program after receiving "excellent" results from the fifth phase of the project in Namibia.

Energy Fuels will prioritize work at its Canyon mine in Arizona under a revised business plan, which focuses on sustaining the company's production capabilities whilst ensuring it is able to respond quickly to any changes in market conditions.