Iran, under international sanctions for its nuclear enrichment programme, has opened new uranium mines and a yellowcake production plant, according to state media.
The country opened the Saghand 1 and 2 uranium mines in the central city of Yazd and 
the Shahid Rezaeinejad yellow cake factory, capable of producing 60 tonnes of yellow cake annually, to mark Iran’s National Nuclear Technology Day, official news agency IRNA said.
The two mines in the city of Saghand in central Iran operate 1,150 feet underground, and are within 75 miles of the yellowcake production facility in the city of Ardakan, in Yazd province, state television said.
Yellowcake is the impure state of uranium oxide later used in enrichment facilities.
Iran’s enrichment activities, which it says are aimed at feeding a peaceful energy programme, are the focus of international concerns, with Western powers and Israel fearing Tehran is developing an atom bomb.
The announcements, on the occasion of Iran’s national Atomic Energy Technology day, come shortly after talks between Iran and six world powers on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions failed to achieve a breakthrough.
