"By 2015 we plan to increase uranium extraction to 15,000 tonnes a year and become the second largest uranium producer after Canada," Kazatomprom President Moukhtar Dzhakishev told an industry conference in Kazakhstan's commercial centre Almaty.

With annual production currently at 3,300 tonnes, Kazakhstan is in third place behind Canada and Australia.

But its uranium reserves, the second largest in the world, are being eagerly eyed by investors trying to push forward nuclear energy around the world.

France's Cogema, a subsidiary of Areva, has been vying with Russian investors to upgrade Kazakh production and earlier this year unveiled plans to invest 90 million dollars (75 million euros) in southern Kazakhstan's Moinkum deposit.

In addition to its Soviet-era mines, Kazakhstan plans to develop seven new deposits across the south of this vast Central Asian country, Dzhakishev said.

WAR.WIRE