Dec 20 (Reuters) - Russian-controlled Uranium One UOII.UL , the world's fourth-biggest producer of the radioactive metal, will replace its chief executive at the end of December, the company said on Tuesday.
Eduard Smirnov, currently the Toronto-based company's manager of corporate projects, will become acting CEO, replacing Chief Executive Feroz Ashraf.
Ashraf will advise Uranium One for six to 12 months. The company is a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned nuclear industry operator Rosatom.
Uranium miners have struggled through nearly six years of weak prices for the metal mined to produce fuel for nuclear reactors. The slump was triggered by Japan's 2011 tsunami that led to the shutdown of all of the country's nuclear reactors.