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Kazatomprom Unveils 10-Year Strategy Amid Inkai Suspension, Includes Rare Earth Metals

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Highlights

  • Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom outlines a 10-year strategy focusing on value-driven uranium mining and nuclear fuel cycle expansion.
  • Company faces immediate challenges with Inkai uranium project suspension and regulatory approval delays.
  • Strategic goals include:
    • Diversifying sales
    • Strengthening ESG practices
    • Mitigating geopolitical risks in the evolving nuclear industry

Kazakhstan’s national atomic company, Kazatomprom, has outlined a new 10-year development strategy (2025-2034), reaffirming its commitment to “Value over Volume.”  A Canada-based venture, in partnership with a Kazakhstan-based energy mining company, is facing regulatory challenges.

As reported in World Nuclear News (opens in a new tab) last month, the plan focuses on uranium mining as its core business, expansion into the nuclear fuel cycle, growth in rare and rare-earth metals, diversification of sales, and strengthening ESG and business practices.

This strategy builds on the company’s 2018-2028 plan, which successfully balanced uranium supply and demand while expanding Kazatomprom’s market reach to new countries and increasing sales to the Americas.

A major achievement has been the increased use of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), which reduces reliance on Russian transit routes and enhances logistical resilience. The TITR, the Middle Corridor, is a trade route connecting China and Europe. It’s a key alternative to shipping through Russia, which sanctions have disrupted.

The company aims to optimize processes and explore strategic opportunities in the evolving nuclear industry, ensuring long-term resource replenishment and revenue diversification while mitigating geopolitical risks.

Challenges

However, the company faces immediate challenges. On January 1, Kazatomprom suspended operations at the Inkai uranium project (opens in a new tab), a joint venture with Canada’s Cameco (opens in a new tab) (40%), due to regulatory approval delays in Kazakhstan.

Cameco, caught off guard by the decision, expressed frustration over the unexpected shutdown and its potential financial impact. The company was already grappling with production setbacks due to sulfuric acid shortages, essential for uranium extraction.

Kazatomprom insists the issue will be resolved in “weeks” with minimal disruption to 2025 output, but the situation underscores the regulatory and supply chain risks that persist in the global uranium market. As demand for uranium surges amid a global nuclear energy revival, Kazatomprom’s strategy will be tested by its ability to maintain production stability while navigating geopolitical and logistical challenges.

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