Kazakh Uranium Miner Seeks to Boost India Sales Before IPO

India is in talks to secure larger orders from Kazakhstan, the world’s biggest uranium producing country, after success with initial sales, Shkolnik said, declining to specify volumes.
Kazatomprom would also like to increase U.S. sales to the level of its exports to Europe, its biggest market, he said in an interview in Almaty.
The hydrogen explosions and radiation leaks at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, the worst disaster for the uranium-consuming industry since Chernobyl in northern Ukraine 25 years ago, have failed to dampen sales, Shkolnik said.
No client, including from Japan, has canceled or sought to cut the size of contracts since the accident last month, he said.
China, Germany and the U.S. are among countries that have said they will review plans to build more atomic energy capacity after the Fukushima disaster. Kazakhstan’s own plans to develop nuclear energy are still in the pre-feasibility stage as the sparsely populated nation studies the potential for small and mid-sized reactors, Shkolnik said. Uranium is processed into fuel for power plants.
Bonds of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based miner Cameco Corp. were the third-worst performers in March in a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index of 746 Canadian corporate bonds on
speculation uranium demand may slow.
Concerns that global sentiment will turn against nuclear energy is misguided and the need for uranium will continue at least until 2050, when the introduction of next-generation atomic reactors that operate on used fuel will see demand for the metal drop, Shkolnik said.
China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group agreed last month to pay HK$984 million ($127 million) for control of Hong Kong- listed Vital Group Holdings Ltd. and said it plans to use the distributor as its unit for uranium investment and trading.
The same month, Russia’s state nuclear holding company Rosatom Corp. signed $2.8 billion in uranium contracts with the U.S. Rosatom’s unit ARMZ Uranium Holding agreed to buy Sydney- listed Mantra Resources Ltd. after cutting the offer price just 12 percent on the Japanese crisis.
The U.K. government will allow work on building new nuclear power plants to progress as it conducts a study of the disaster at the atomic facility in Japan, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said today in an interview in New York.
Kazakhstan plans to increase uranium output by about 2 percent in 2012 to almost 20,000 metric tons, compared with the10 percent growth for this year, the company said last month. In 2013, output will remain at a minimum of 20,000 metric tons with a 2020 target of as much as 28,000 tons.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, re-elected this month to extend his rule into a third decade, ordered state companies in February to issue stock to citizens, allowing them to share in the nation’s commodity boom. Preparations for a Kazatomprom IPO have started, Shkolnik said.
“We’re working on the issue,” Shkolnik said. “We’re talking of a people’s IPO here, as the government would like to give citizens a more lucrative investment opportunity.”
Kazakhstan has 15 percent of the world’s uranium reserves, the largest after the 23 percent estimated to be in Australia, according to the World Nuclear Association’s website.