How many uranium deposits are there in Kazakhstan - active and depleted

Kazakhstan is one of the largest exporters of uranium in the world. We decided to find out where all its deposits are located and how mining is carried out. It turned out that there are already depleted uranium polygons in the country, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.

In response to the editorial request, the Ministry of Energy reported that NAC Kazatomprom JSC extracts uranium at 26 sites of 13 deposits in the Turkistan, Kyzylorda and North Kazakhstan regions. All of them are polygons where many wells are installed and uranium is leached from underground.

The company itself is constantly looking for new deposits to replenish the mineral resource base of the fuel. In Kazakhstan, there are many uranium deposits that can only be mined by mining, but so far their development is unprofitable.

Here are the places where uranium is mined now:

· Mynkuduk (Eastern, Central, Western sites);

· Zhalpak;

· Northern Karamurun;

· Southern Karamurun;

· Kanzhugan;

· Moinkum (sites: southern part of site No. 1 (Southern), northern part of site No. 3 (Central), northern part of site No. 1 (Southern) and site No. 2 (Tortkuduk);

· Inkai (sites 1, 2, 3 and 4);

· Akdala;

· Zarechnoye;

· Northern Kharasan (sites 1 and 2);

· Budenovskoye (sites 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7);

· Irkol;

· Semizbay.

There are four sites operating in Inkai, only the Budenovskoye deposit has more – there Kazatomprom extracts minerals in seven territories.

At the same time, part of the deposits in Moinkum have already been worked out and the consequences of the development are currently being eliminated there. However, other sections of this area continue to operate - there are three of them. In Uvanas, mining has already been completely wrapped up.

Earlier, as part of the state geological study of the subsoil at the “Vostochny” site of the Zhalpak deposit in the Turkistan region, exploration work was carried out at the expense of Kazatomprom's own funds, as a result of which uranium resources in categories P1 and P2 were identified. The feasibility of further exploration work to transfer uranium resources to reserves of categories C2 and C1 was also confirmed, based on the results of which updated uranium reserves at the site will be obtained.

“We are proud to note that our efforts in the field of prospecting and exploration of uranium deposits are bearing fruit, helping to strengthen Kazakhstan’s position as a leading global player in the uranium industry, which is especially important given the growing demand in the uranium market. I am confident that further research and development will significantly increase our uranium resources, contributing to global energy security and economic growth of our country,” emphasizes Meirzhan Yussupov, Chairman of the Board of Kazatomprom.