KAZAKH URANIUM STRATEGY STUMBLES ALONG.

ALMATY, May 1 Asia Pulse - Kazakh authorities have reiterated "plans" to become a world leader in uranium production.

Kazakhstan, apart from sitting on the world's largest untapped oil deposit off the Caspian coast, is also immensely rich in non-ferrous metal ore, including copper, gold, silver, zinc and last but not least uranium. It has the second largest reserves after Australia, with deposit volumes of class A (proven) and class B (assessed) amounting to 11.6 million tons. About two-thirds of the country's uranium is located in the northern provinces, with other fields scattered over the west, south and the east of the country.

Atomredmetzoloto estimates global uranium production totaled about 41,120 tons in 2007, an Interfax news report dated April 7 read. UxC Consulting had forecast production would grow 13 per cent to 44,430 tons, while the World Nuclear Association expected production to increase 10 per cent to 43,320 tons.

Eight countries account for 90 per cent of global uranium production: Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Niger, Namibia, Uzbekistan and the United States. Russia overtook Niger to become the world's fourth largest producer, as it increased uranium output by 6 per cent to 3,413 tons. The leading uranium miner is Canada, where production dropped 4 per cent to 9,475 tons. Australia followed with output of 8,603 tons, up 13 per cent from the previous year. Kazakhstan has firmly held onto third place since 2003, and last year saw the strongest growth as uranium output jumped 26 per cent to 6,638 tons.

DENSELY INTERTWINED

The largest uranium deposits in Kazakhstan are those of Inkai and Tsentralnoye Mynkuduk in the north, Kharasan in the southwest and Zarechnoye in the south of the country, with assessed reserves of 42,800, 52,000, 55,000 and 40,000 tons respectively. Zarechnoye, run by a joint venture consisting of Kazakhstan's state-controlled monopoly Kazatomprom and a subsidiary of the latter's Russian counterpart Rosatom, Atomredmetzoloto, which owns a small 0.67 per cent share directly and another 49.33 per cent through its branch TENEX. Kazatomprom owns another 49.33 per cent, while Kyrgyzstan's Kara Balta company owns the remaining 0.67 per cent.

It all illustrates how densely intertwined former Soviet players in the Yellow Great Game have become. Western participants in Kazakhstan's uranium mining and processing development play the role of partners, who provide capital investments and technology to get full-scale operations running in key deposits.