Kazatomprom Rejects Rosatom-Linked Uranium Deal, Approves Supply to China

Kazakhstan's state uranium producer Kazatomprom approved a large uranium concentrate supply contract with China's State Nuclear Uranium Resource Development Company (SNURDC) at an extraordinary general shareholders' meeting on 7 October, with 88.63% voting in favour. At the same meeting, a similar deal with Uranium One Group, part of Rosatom, was rejected: 5.39% voted for, 6.27% against and 88.34% abstained.

Citing the shareholder register, Elmedia reports that the Samruk-Kazyna fund holds 62.99% of shares and the Finance Ministry holds 12.01% through the National Fund, while the free float traded through Citibank depositary receipts is 24.32%. The outlet argues that abstentions on this scale would not have been possible without direct state involvement.

The rejected contract would have shipped uranium to the Siberian Chemical Combine in Seversk, Russia. According to the report, Russian diplomats claimed France and the collective West were pressuring Kazakhstan's uranium market, while Western analysts, including NucNet, see Astana shifting its supply routes from north to east.