First uranium product shipped from Dobrovolnoye deposit

Monday, 14 April 2025

Dinis Ezhurov, Director General of JSC Dalur, said: "The technological building has been launched into operation according to the full technological cycle and the first product in the form of ammonium diuranate has already been obtained, which fully complies with quality indicators. Conducting pilot work will allow Dalur to move on to industrial development of the deposit. We will ensure a stable supply of natural uranium concentrate until 2045 and create up to 300 jobs."

Official permission from the Russian government to develop the deposit was granted in 2017, and a consultation with local people in 2019 specified that no construction of pilot operations was to take place on the flood-prone areas of the Tobol River. Construction of pilot operations began in October 2020.

Construction of the main project began in 2021 when it was said that commissioning the Dobrovolnoye deposit - which has estimated reserves of 7067 tU - would enable Dalur to increase its volume of uranium recovery from the current 590 tonnes per year to 700 tonnes. 

Rosatom said the Dobrovolnoye deposit is unique in Russia, saying "the geological conditions of the uranium ore occurrence are characterised by a complex geochemical environment". The borehole-in-situ leaching method is being used which the company said was "more efficient and environmentally friendly than the underground mining method".

Read More: A guide - Uranium and the nuclear fuel cycle

Dobrovolnoye is in the Zverinogolovsky district of the Kurgan region of Russia, about 1350 kilometres east of Moscow.