KHORASAN - Japan opened a major uranium mine in Kazakhstan on Friday, gaining access to alternative energy supplies from resource-rich Central Asia.

Khorasan-1, tucked away in the arid steppes of southern Kazakhstan, is being developed by a group of Japanese firms including Toshiba Corp, as well as Kazakh state uranium company Kazatomprom and a unit of Canada's Uranium One.

On Friday, a delegation of Japanese executives, the head of Kazatomprom and other officials flew to the remote location for an official ceremony which marks Kazakhstan's growing resolve to become the world's top uranium exporter as soon as this year.

Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov pressed a symbolic button at the site, officially launching production.

Khorasan, with uranium reserves of more than 80 000 t, will produce about 180 t of the commodity this year and reach full capacity by 2014 when it is due to start yielding 3 000 t of uranium a year.

Under the deal, about 2 000 t will be shipped to Japan to fuel its nuclear power plants. The companies have invested about $430 million in the project so far.

"Launching this project will help raise Kazakhstan's share in global uranium production," Kazatomprom President Mukhtar Dzhakishev told Reuters after the launch. "Three thousand tonnes is quite a big amount."

Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic west of China, has a fifth of global uranium reserves.

Its push to develop uranium is part of a broader strategy to diversify the economy which is heavily dependent on oil.

Cooperation with Japan also highlights its determination to pursue a foreign policy that is less dependent on Russia, currently its biggest trading and diplomatic partner.

Kazakhstan produced 8,521 tonnes of uranium last year, up from 6 637 in 2007. Analysts say Kazatomprom is now on track to edge out Canada's Cameco this year as the world's No.1 producer.

Dzhakishev said he saw 2009 production at 12 200-12 300 tonnes, significantly higher than last year's but below Kazakhstan's projected full capacity output of 20 000 tonnes.

"We will have to hold back production a bit because we will produce only as much as the market wants," he said.

Kazatomprom has pursued its ambition to raise its profile as a global leader, buying 10 percent of Toshiba's U.S.-based Westinghouse nuclear power unit and courting energy consumers such as Japan and neighbouring China.