"The plant is expected to process 400,000 metric tons of ore per year. The plant will have a designed annual capacity of around 1.5 metric tons of gold and a maximum capacity of 120 metric tons of uranium per year," the ministry said.
Lunnoye was founded by the Atomredmetzoloto uranium holding and the Seligdar gold mining company.
According to the ministry, the plant is expected to produce its first ton of gold in late 2009-early 2010, while the plant's capacity will be reached by 2011.
Atomredmetzoloto manages all of Russia's uranium mining assets and also participates in uranium production in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan. The uranium reserves of Atomredmetozoloto's enterprises in Russia and Kazakhstan are estimated at 583,500 metric tons and are the second largest in the world.
Atomredmetzoloto is owned by Atomenergoprom, which is part of the state-controlled nuclear power corporation Rosatom.
Seligdar incorporates gold mining enterprises with total reserves of 105 metric tons of gold. The holding's gold output is expected to reach 11.2 metric tons by 2012.
