BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 19. Board of Directors of Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom National Atomic Company (NAC) has approved a strategy to revise the Company’s 2024 production volume down by approximately 10 percent, Trend reports citing the NAC.
The production strategy will be revised compared to the total Subsoil Use Contract level of 28,691 tons of uranium, disclosed in its most recent 2021 Competent Person’s Report (“2021 CPR”).
The decision to shift production from minus 20 percent in 2023 to approximately minus 10 percent in 2024 is based primarily on Kazatomprom’s continued success in signing mid- and long-term contracts with new and existing customers.
The current contract book provides sufficient confidence that the additional volume in 2024 will have a secure place in the market and be needed to fulfill future contractual obligations.
However, the continued production discipline reflects Kazatomprom’s assessment of the supply-demand balance over the next two years and factors in the challenges the Company is expecting to face in terms of global supply chains and limited availability of certain key operating materials and reagents.
The full implementation of this decision could remove approximately 3,500 tons of uranium from anticipated global primary supply in 2024. Kazatomprom’s 2024 production is therefore expected to be between 25,000 tons of uranium and 25,500 tons of uranium (100 percent basis), compared to the total Subsoil Use Contracts level for 2024 of 28,691 tons of uranium, disclosed in the 2021 CPR.
Although the year-over-year production increase from 2023 to 2024 is modest, the Company may face significant challenges to any increase above current production levels based on the current state of global supply chains.
The Company will now begin working with joint venture partners and mining subsidiaries to incorporate the required changes into the 2023 budgets and development plans, accounting for the revised production levels in 2024.
“Kazatomprom will continue to monitor ongoing market developments and maintain the flexibility to react quickly to changing conditions. No decision has been taken regarding mine development activity and production volumes beyond 2024,” the company said.