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Uran Limited is assessing opportunities to acquire or become involved in the development of advanced uranium projects in Kazakhstan.
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with two key governmental agencies in Kazakhstan to facilitate the acquisition of advanced uranium projects in major uranium mining regions within Kazakhstan.
Joint Stock Company Volkovgeologia is the body responsible for exploration of mineral resources within Kazakhstan, including uranium. It holds the information on extensive past uranium exploration, and is currently responsible for carrying out exploration on a number of large uranium deposits being brought to mine status in cooperation with companies including Cameco and Areva.
The Institute of High Technologies is a department of Kazatomprom, the governmental agency responsible for all uranium mining in Kazakhstan. The Institute is responsible for research into uranium mineralisation, exploration technology, and technology associated with uranium extraction and processing.
Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, the parties will cooperate closely in exchange of technologies in the fields of exploration, mining and processing of uranium. Particular attention will be focussed on establishment of economically effective and environmentally clean technology in mining of uranium in small to medium sized deposits (2,400 – 12,000 tonnes U3O8). After selection of the technology the parties will put all efforts, using their experience and capabilities, to establish a joint venture to acquire licenses for exploration and mining of uranium in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Currently Kazakhstan is the world’s third largest producer of uranium.
KAZATOMPROM NEWS
KAZAKHSTAN URANIUM DEPOSITS
 Kazakhstan History & Government
Kazakhstan is a democratic country with a population of 15.4 million people, and it is the second biggest country (after Russia) of the former Soviet Union. The economy is based on mineral, oil and gas production and it was a major contributor in the economic wealth of the Soviet Union. The world’s largest space launch facility was constructed in 1955 at Baikonur, in central Kazakhstan, and the first manned spacecraft was launched form here in 1961.
As for Uzbekistan, the nomadic populace was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century and ruled by various khanates until Russian conquest in the 19th century. In 1916 the Kazakhs rebelled against Russian domination and were in the process of establishing a Western-style state at the time of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. By 1920 the region was under Soviet control and became a constituent republic in 1936.
In 1991 Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union and became a member of the CIS. The country has a stable Government, with the nation’s first President Mr Nursultan Abish-uly Nazarbayev having been in office since 1991. He was re-elected in December 2005 for a further 7 years.
In 1992 Kazakhstan was admitted into the United Nations and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the predecessor of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). A new constitution was adopted in 1994. During this period a major privatization program programme was launched.
Kazakhstan, along with Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, signed an economic cooperation pact with Russia in 1996. In 1997 the capital was moved from Almaty to the more centrally located Astana. In 1999, as Kazakhstan's economy declined in the post-Soviet slump, the government agreed to sell some of its stake in the vast Tengiz oil field. Today the country’s economy is improving largely because of Kazakhstan’s vast mineral and natural resources wealth.
Ancient rock carvings, Tambly Tas |
