Orano, Navoiyuran agree to develop Uzbek project

Thursday, 13 March 2025

According to the agreement signed by French nuclear materials group Orano and state-owned Uzbek uranium producer Navoiyuran, South Djengeldi will be integrated into Navoiyuran's existing industrial base. The Uzbek company will be the project's operator. The agreement also marks the entry of ITOCHU Corporation, acquiring a minority stake in the joint venture, Orano said without disclosing the size of ITOCHU's stake.

Based on resources certified to date, South Djengeldi should sustain production for more than a decade and with peak production of 700 tU, Orano said. The partners will also embark on an exploration programme, with the aim of "at least doubling" its mineral resources.

According to the 2022 edition of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency joint report on uranium resources - known as the Red Book - as of 1 January 2021, Uzbekistan had some 131,290 tU of identified uranium resources recoverable at a cost of up to USD 130 per kgU. The country has produced uranium since 1946, but all production has been by in-situ recovery methods since the mid-1990s. According to World Nuclear Association, Uzbekistan produced an estimated 3300 tU in 2022, making it the world's fifth largest producer that year and accounting for about 7% of global production.

_{Nurlikum Mining General Director Benoit Lemonne, Xavier Saint Martin Tillet, Navoiyuran General Director Djamal Fayzullaev and ITOCHU Metals & Minerals Company President Jun Inomata pictured at the agreement signing (Image: Orano/Maximilien Sporschill)}

Nurlikum Mining was established in 2019 as a 51/49% joint venture of Orano and Navoiyuran to develop the Djengeldi uranium deposit, which is in the Kyzylkum desert. It was granted two exploration permits - for Djengeldi North and South - in 2020. According to information from the joint venture, Djengeldi has 12,500 tons of resources registered by Uzbekistan's Ministry of Mining Industry and Geology, although as of 2023 these resources had yet to be confirmed in line with the JORC international code.

South Djengeldi forms part of a much broader programme of cooperation between Navoiyuran, which was set out within a strategic framework agreement signed by Orano and the State of Uzbekistan in 2022. 

Xavier Saint Martin Tillet, senior executive vice president of Orano's mining activities, said the South Djengeldi  project contributes to diversifying the group's production sources. "This new phase was made possible by the work undertaken over the past 5 years in Uzbekistan," he said. "Orano aims to bring its geological and technical expertise to the further project's development and, in doing so, support the expansion of the company's operations."