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Central Asia
Kazakhstan world’s largest uranium miner
KAZAKHSTAN’S international energy image
is now that of one of the world’s rising oil exporters,
an extraordinary feat given that, two
decades ago its hydrocarbon output was beyond
insignificant when the USSR collapsed,
and the vast Central Asian nation, larger than
Western Europe, has quietly passed another
energy milestone.
Kazakhstan produces 33% of world’s mined
uranium, followed by Canada at 18% and
Australia with 11% while Kazakhstan contains
the world’s second-largest uranium reserves,
estimated at 1.5 million tonnes. Until two years
ago Kazakhstan was No 3, following Australia
and Canada. The trio is responsible for about
62% of global production.
According to Kazakhstan’s State Corporation
for Atomic Energy, Kazatomprom, during
January-September 2011, the country mined
almost 14,000 tonnes of uranium, 11%
higher than the same period in 2010.
Kazatomprom’s revenues also soared 72%
year-on-year. Kazatomprom is the national
operator for the export of uranium, as well as
rare metals, nuclear fuel for nuclear power
plants, special equipment, technologies and
dual-purpose materials. To put this accomplishment
in context, just five years ago Kazakhstan
produced 5279 tonnes of uranium.
While the disaster at Japan’s Fukuhima nuclear
complex caused several European nations
to reassess their commitment to nuclear power,
Kazakhstan’s regional markets seem assured in
Asia’s rising economic powerhouses China and
India. While Beijing reacted to Fukushima by ordering
thorough inspections of nuclear power
plants, China’s Commission of Science Technology
and Industry for National Defence in its
11th Five-Year Plan for the Nuclear Industry announced
China intended to produce 40 gigawatts
of nuclear power electrical generating
capacity within a decade, even though nuclear
power currently accounts for just 1.4% of
China’s electrical power generation.
If China follows through with its nuclear
power plant construction plans the country will
need an estimated 44 million pounds of uranium
annually, as by 2020 the country will have
a total of 77 planned and proposed new reactors.
Of China’s 11 nuclear power plants, the
oldest, Qingshan-1, only came online in 1991.
India’s nuclear ambitions parallel China’s.
While nuclear power accounts for only 3-4%
of the country’s electrical output, India has 19
planned and proposed nuclear power reactors
on the drawing board.
The Japanese nuclear crisis has not overshadowed
Astana’s optimism. Speaking at the
Minex conference in Astana, Kazatomprom
president Vladimir Shkol’nik stated that the
Fukushima debacle would not greatly influence
the Kazakh state atomic company’s plans.
Kazakhstan is moving beyond mining of uranium
to producing nuclear fuel rods. On November
4 French Industry and Energy Minister
Eric Besson signed a contract with the Kazakh
government allowing France’s Areva to open a
nuclear fuel plant with Kazatomprom.
A statement from Besson’s office noted,
“This deal commits to the creation in Kazakhstan
of a nuclear fuel production plant dedicated
to the Asian market. The construction
of this plant could start as soon as the feasibility
study is completed by the end of the first
quarter of 2012.” According to the agreement,
the facility will consist of a new production
line at Kazakhstan’s ULBA metallurgical
plant that will be 51% owned by Kazatomprom
and 49% by Areva.
And flush with cash, Kazatomprom may buy
into the Russian Federation’s Urals Electrochemical
Integrated Plant, the largest uranium
enrichment facility within Russian State Nuclear
Energy Corporation Rosatom. Rosatom’s CEO
Sergei Kirienko said, “We are involved in purely
technical procedures now, taking into account
the organization and relevant restrictions (of a
closed nuclear facility). We are moving within a
set timetable. We have a plan - to complete all
work in 2012. And we should begin working
with Kazatomprom in 2012.”
In the final quarter of 2011, the International
Energy Agency released its ‘World Energy
Outlook’ which states that if the world
is serious about global warming, it should
consider the continued use of nuclear power
to reduce greenhouse emissions. With
Kazakhstan’s daily oil exports running at
1.74 million barrels and it being the world’s
largest uranium miner, it would seem Astana
is going to continue to rake in the cash no
matter what energy policies the world
adopts in the short term.
—By John CK Daly of http://oilprice.com
Chaarat on track for Tulkubash production
CHAARAT Gold Holdings is on track to begin
production at the Tulkubash deposit of its
Chaarat Gold Project in northwest Kyrgyz Republic
in the second quarter of 2013. The
company has been encouraged by a 56% increase
in resources to 501,000 ounces.
The company has been upgrading the resource
to reserve status and increasing the
overall project size and production rate as well
as carrying out permitting, design and detailed
engineering. Ongoing work also includes infrastructure
development and construction as
well as recruitment and team building.
Exploration has focused on improving the
resource and generating reserves from the
open pittable section of the Central
Tulkubash ore body, both of which provided
encouraging results. This has helped improve
Chaarat’s understanding of the project to the
extent that it believes the resource may have
the capability of supporting a larger daily production
base of 2500 tonnes.
A total of 15,413 metres of drilling generated
an open pittable resource of 404,000
ounces from a total of 501,000 ounces. Further
drill results to the south and north indicate
the reserve can be increased significantly. The
strike extension and the geometry of the pit
mean production can be increased without
changing the strip ratio and without interrupting
mining activities.
Drilling in the Tulkubash zone suggests that
the mineralized zone extends by a few kilometres
due north and that this extension
should make it possible to significantly increase
production. The generation of a feedstock
that is amenable to free milling from a
low strip ratio open pit will provide cash generation
opportunities.
The engineering of the process plant has
been mandated to ProMet from South Africa,
which is affiliated to a large Chinese engineering
and construction company, Dadi Engineering.
As such a large part of the detailed
design work is being executed in China.
46 | ASIA Miner | January/February 2012