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Muyunkum (Moinkum) project
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French nuclear group Areva's joint venture in Kazakhstan plans next year to complete an expansion that will take
annual uranium production to 4,000 tonnes, the head of the joint venture said on Tuesday (June 21). KATCO, owned
51 percent by Areva and 49 percent by Kazakh state nuclear company Kazatomprom, expects to increase uranium
output to 3,500 tonnes this year from 3,354 tonnes in 2010, General Director Konrad Schauer told a mining
conference. He said KATCO, which produced 6.25 percent of the world's uranium in 2010, should be producing 4,000
tonnes annually from its mines in South Kazakhstan from 2012, the culmination of a $550 million investment
programme since operations began. KATCO's two mines, 
Tortkuduk
 and 
Muyunkum
, use the in-situ leaching process,
drilling holes to recover uranium in an acid solution without the need to dig mine shafts or pits. Schauer said that

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06.12.2023, 21:45
New Uranium Mining Projects - Kazakhstan
https://wise-uranium.org/upkz.html
10/12
mining 4,000 tonnes of uranium would require annual sulphuric acid consumption of 200,000 tonnes. (Reuters Jun. 21,
2011)
On June 23, 2006, AREVA and KAZATOMPROM started the commercial uranium production at the Muyunkum
uranium ISL mine. Reaching the planned production capacity of 500 tons of uranium per year is planned in 2007.
(Kazakhstan Today June 23, 2006)
On April 29, 2004, AREVA and KAZATOMPROM signed an agreement for the development of commercial
production at the Kazakh Moinkum uranium deposit. After three years of successful operation of an experimental
plant, the joint enterprise KATCO (AREVA 51%, Kazatomprom 49%), is now going to plan and construct a
commercial production plant. The first uranium output is expected at the end of 2005 with a progressive rise in
productivity to 1500 tons per year. The development of the mine requires investments of $90 million, financed by
AREVA. (Kazakhstan Today Apr. 29, 2004)
The KATCO uranium joint venture started production of yellow cake in an experimental pattern at the southern
Kazakh Moinkum deposit in early 2002. It is expected that 100 tonnes of yellow cake will be produced annually at the
initial test stage of the project and in a year this will be increased to 1,000 tonnes a year. (BBC Monitoring Service
March 4, 2002)
A pilot plant to process uranium concentrate with a capacity of 100 tonnes of uranium a year, built by the French-
Kazakh KATCO joint venture, was scheduled to be accepted for commissioning by the state commission in February
or March 2002. (BBC Monitoring Service Feb 8, 2002)
The Kazatomprom national nuclear company is starting to develop the Yuzhnyy Moinkum uranium deposit in South
Kazakhstan. (BBC Monitoring Service - UK, Nov 9, 2001)
Katco - the Kazakh-French-Swiss joint uranium venture - is expected to start producing uranium from the Moynkum
deposit in Kazakhstan as early as October 2001. The uranium would be produced via in-situ leaching (ISL) using
sulphuric acid. The uranium processing plant is reportedly almost ready for commissioning. The plant will have an
initial capacity of 100 tonnes U, with plans to increase to 1000 tonnes U in 2002. The Moynkum deposit has estimated
reserves of 20,000 to 27,000 tonnes U. (WNA News Briefing 01.37, Sep 12, 2001)
Kazatomprom will bring the Yuzhny Moinkum uranium deposit into production later in 2000. (UI News Briefing
00.22, May 31, 2000)
The major French nuclear fuel cycle company 
Cogema
 and the state-controlled 
KATEP
company have set up a joint
venture, 
KATCO
, to work on the development of uranium resources in Kazakhstan. KATEP is responsible for
supervising the production and commercialisation of uranium in Kazakhstan, which holds 19% of the world's low-cost
uranium reserves. An initial project of KATCO is to study the feasibility of using in situ leaching on deposits in
Muyunkum.
In the last couple of years Kazakhstan has closed down its higher cost mining and now produces uranium solely by in
situ leaching. [UIC Weekly News Summary 23 Aug 1996]