Kazakh Uranium Miner Investors to Vote on Huge Deal With China

(Bloomberg) -- Kazakhstan, the world’s No. 1 uranium producer, will decide next month on whether to approve a huge deal to supply concentrates to China’s nuclear industry.

Shareholders of state-owned miner Kazatomprom will vote on Nov. 15 at an extraordinary general meeting in Astana on whether to support the transaction with CNNC Overseas Ltd. and China National Uranium Corp. The deal requires investor approval under Kazakh law, the company said.

“The transaction value, cumulative with the previously concluded transactions with CNUC and CNNC Overseas, comprises fifty percent or more of the total book value of the company’s assets,” Kazatomprom said in a statement on Tuesday.

The deal with affiliates of China National Nuclear Corp. comes after uranium prices soared over the past four years in anticipation of a surge in demand for the nuclear fuel. The US, Japan and France were among 22 nations that pledged late last year to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050.

Kazatomprom announced that it had signed contracts with the Chinese companies last November, but said the volumes involved were confidential. The uranium miner is 75% owned by the Kazakh state.

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