MOSCOW (Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s state-controlled nuclear resources company said on Tuesday that Russia’s state Rosatom corporation was selling its stakes in vast uranium deposits that it had been developing with the world’s largest uranium producer.
Kazatomprom said that Rosatom unit, Uranium One Group, had sold its 49.979% stake in the Zarechnoye mine to SNURDC Astana Mining Company Limited, whose ultimate beneficiary is China’s State Nuclear Uranium Resources Development Company.
Uranium One Group is also expected to give up 30% in the Khorasan-U joint venture to China Uranium Development Company Limited, the ultimate beneficiary of which is China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN, China), Kazatomprom said.
Kazatomprom’s stakes will remain unchanged, it said.
Zarechnoye’s uranium reserves amounted to approximately 3,500 tonnes at the beginning of 2024, according to Kazatomprom.
Khorasan-U operates at the Kharasan-1 block of Severny Kharasan deposit in the Zhanakorgan district of the Kyzylorda region. Uranium reserves of the deposit amounted to about 33,000 tonnes at the beginning of 2024, with an expected maturity in 2038, Kazatomprom said.
Rosatom did not immediately comment. Uranium One produced 4,831 tonnes of uranium in Kazakhstan in 2023.
Kazatomprom is the world’s largest producer of uranium and has the largest reserve base. It accounted for approximately 20% of global primary uranium production in 2023.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
