China’s Energy Demands Fueling Canada’s Uranium Exploration in Asia
Asia Pacific Bulletin
Canadian mining companies paid close attention to recent reports that the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan plans to become the world’s leading producer of uranium by 2010. With just 9.4% of global uranium production in 2004, Kazakhstan trails far behind Canada (29.2%) and Australia (22.6%) as the world’s number three producer, but the country’s state-owned uranium mining company, Kazatomprom, has ambitious plans. Formed by the government of Kazakhstan in 1997, Kazatomprom has increased production by 45% to 3,719 metric tonnes since 2003. It plans to develop seven new mines over the next five years and to reach an annual production target of 15,000 tonnes by 2010, which would make it the world’s top producer. However, at least some Canadian investors are not worrying about Canada’s potential slip to second place, as a number of Canadian mining firms are themselves investing heavily in uranium exploration and production in Kazakhstan and its Central Asian neighbours.