Sergei Kiriyenko earlier said that Russia, which accounts for 8% of the world's uranium output, should replace its non-renewable gas resources with nuclear energy.
Russia's reserves of coal and natural gas will be depleted in 50 years, and in response Russia is planning to expand its nuclear energy sector and meet 60-70% of its uranium demand domestically by 2015.
"Uranium production in Russian deposits has now become profitable," Kiriyenko said.
He added that uranium production was not profitable earlier in Russia, when the average price for one kilogram was $40.
"Today world's price per kilo amounts to $100, and, therefore, production has become profitable," he said.
Kiriyenko said Russia intends to extend its cooperation with all uranium-producing countries.
"We will be extending our cooperation with all countries producing uranium," he said. "We are ready to cooperate actively with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and have already started talks with Mongolia."
He added that the first batch of uranium from a Russian-Kazakh joint-venture, in the south of mineral-rich Kazakhstan, will be produced in January-February 2007.
The joint-venture was set up in 2004 and is exploring a uranium ore deposit with estimated reserves of 19,000 metric tons of uranium in Zarechnoye, near the border with Central Asian neighbors Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Techsnabexport, Russia's state-controlled uranium supplier and provider of uranium enrichment services, holds a 49.33% stake in the joint-venture.
Kiriyenko said that in Soviet times, Russia produced a considerable amount of uranium for military purposes, which could last the country for many decades.
But he added that the current increase in uranium production was necessary for the full-scale development of Russia's nuclear sector.
