Russia sells stakes in some Kazakh uranium deposits to China (updated)

Natsional'naya Atomnaya Kompaniya Kazatomprom AO

17/12/2024 10:16

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      Rosatom had stakes in 6 Kazakhstan's deposits
    

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      Rosatom's ownership complicated Kazakhstan's sales to West
    

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      Kazakh state company flagged sanctions risks to investors
    

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      Kazakhstan is world's largest uranium producer 
    

  
 (Adds background in paragraphs 2-3)
       MOSCOW, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's nuclear
resources company Kazatomprom said on Tuesday that Russia's
Rosatom was selling its stakes in some uranium deposits which
the two groups had been developing together to Chinese-owned
companies.
    Kazatomprom, listed in London and Kazakhstan, is the world's
largest producer of uranium and has the largest reserve base. It
accounted for 20% of global primary uranium production in 2023,
but lacks its own uranium processing capacity.   
    Rosatom used to have stakes in 6 of 14 Kazatomprom's
deposits, receiving a share of the output in a deal that
complicated the Kazakh firm's sales to the West. 
    Kazatomprom, which has flagged sanctions risks associated
with Rosatom to its investors, 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 said its stakes will remain unchanged, while
Rosatom had no immediate comment. 
    China is the biggest buyer of Kazakhstan's uranium. After
the Khorasan-U stake sale Rosatom will still have stakes in
Kazatomprom deposits, with combined reserves of 255,000 tons. 
    This includes the Budennovskoye deposit, one of the world's
largest, that Rosatom acquired under a deal disclosed in 2023.  
 
    Zarechnoye's uranium reserves amounted to approximately
3,500 tons at the beginning of 2024, Kazatomprom said. 
    
    SANCTIONS RISKS
    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
tons at the beginning of 2024, with an expected maturity in
2038, Kazatomprom said.
    Uranium One produced 4,831 tonnes of uranium in Kazakhstan
in 2023. Russia is the world's sixth largest uranium producer
and controls about 44% of global uranium enrichment capacity. 
    Rosatom says that when its production in Kazakhstan is
included the company ranked third in the world by production
volume in 2023.  
    Kazatomprom's chief executive Meirzhan Yussupov told the FT
in September that sanctions imposed on Russia because of the
Ukraine conflict made it difficult to sell uranium to Western
buyers. 
    Kazatomprom sells 29% of its output to Europe, according to
the company's documents.
    The company outlined the risks in its latest annual report,
stressing that although Rosatom was not directly targeted, some
of its companies as well as senior Russian nuclear power
industry executives were under Western sanctions.   
    "There are also risks associated with Russian partners in
the Group’s subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures,
including reputational and corporate governance risks," it said.
    Rosatom has also expressed interest in building Kazakhstan's
first nuclear power plant, aimed at phasing out polluting coal. 

 (Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Anastasia Lyrchikova;
Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Alexander
Smith)
 ((guy.faulconbridge@thomsonreuters.com; Telephone
+79856400243;))