Kazakhstan holds the world’s second-largest proven uranium reserves, yet ongoing production is steadily depleting them. According to Kazatomprom, ore reserves declined by 4.9% and mineral resources by 3.3% in 2025 alone.
“This requires stepping up exploration today. It takes years to move from the discovery of a promising target to commercial production,” says Said Sultanov.
Key points from the interview:
- Private capital and junior companies. In global practice, the private sector takes on much of the exploration risk, while the state retains control over the strategic resource.
- Balancing interests. The Aral Resources and Laramide Resources cases show that an excessive increase in state participation can reduce a project’s appeal to private investors.
- Near-mine plus greenfield exploration. Additional exploration at operating deposits secures mines for the next 3–5 years, but a sustainable base requires systematic exploration of new areas as well.
- By-products. Scandium, selenium, vanadium, rare earth elements and others can improve project economics, depending on grades and recovery technology.
- Artificial intelligence. From processing large geological and geophysical datasets and identifying new exploration patterns to optimising drilling.
Three priorities for the industry:
- Resource base and investment policy that brings in private capital.
- Technological resilience: production efficiency, lower water and acid consumption, digitalisation, and secure sulphuric acid supply.
- Environmental responsibility: water recycling, waste management and land rehabilitation built into project economics from day one.
“Ultimately, the sustainability of the industry is determined not only by the amount of uranium in the ground. It takes resources, investment, technology and clear rules that turn geological potential into new deposits and production.”
The full interview (in Russian) is available on the publisher’s website.
Source: Inbusiness.kz, Marina Popova, 7 October 2026.
