Almost One And a Half Trillion KZT: Kazakhstan to Sell Uranium to China

JSC NAC Kazatomprom has announced it will sell natural uranium concentrate to two Chinese companies. The sale exceeds half the value of all the company's assets, Orda.kz reports. The deal is for approximately 1.3 trillion tenge.

According to the KASE website, Kazatomprom will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on November 15 in Astatna to obtain their official approval for the transaction.

Kazatomprom has reached an agreement with the Chinese companies CNNC Overseas Limited and China National Uranium Corporation Limited (CNUC) on the supply of natural uranium concentrates in the form of uranium (IV) oxide - diuranium (V) on market terms, the national company said.

Kazatomprom has not disclosed the exact amount of the deal with CNNC and CNUC. As the company must obtain shareholder approval, the transaction amount should be at least half of the book value of the national company's assets. 

Kazatomprom's total assets at the end of 2023 amounted to 2 trillion 599 billion 292 million tenge. This deal alone will bring the company more than its net profit for last year (580.3 billion tenge).

CNUC, a company registered in the People's Republic of China, and CNNC Overseas, a company registered in Hong Kong, are affiliated organizations of China National Nuclear Corporation, a state-owned corporation of the People's Republic of China involved in all areas of the nuclear industry. CNNC is the main operator of nuclear power plants in the People's Republic of China, engaged in research and development in the field of nuclear energy and technology, construction of nuclear power plants and production of nuclear fuel, Kazatomprom notes.

China plans to increase the capacity of its nuclear power plants threefold from today's figures by 2040 and increase the share of electricity generation at nuclear power plants to 10% of the total volume by 2035.

In September, Kazatomprom CEO Meirzhan Yusupov reported that one "Asian partner" could fully meet the demand for the national company's products. He did not name a specific country.

Original Author: Nikita Drobny