Brazil plans to restart uranium mining this year after a five-year hiatus, Reuters reported Oct. 7, citing newspaper Estado de S. Paulo's interview with Mines and Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque.
The minister said the operations will begin at a mine in the city of Caetite in the state of Bahia.
Uranium mining was halted in 2014 when state-owned company Industrias Nucleares Do Brasil, or INB, stopped operations at the Caetite mine after one deposit of uranium ran out and INB did not have a license at the time to start operations at another nearby mine.
In April, regulator Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear gave the approval for the Caetite mine to proceed.
Only INB can explore for the commodity, according to the Brazilian constitution. However, Albuquerque said Brazil is eyeing future partnerships with private partners for uranium exploration.
Only one-third of Brazil's uranium reserves, said to be the world's seventh-largest, have been explored.
