World's largest uranium producer: the company operates normally unaffected by the situation in Kazakhstan

(Kazatomprom), the national atomic energy company of Kazakhstan, the world's largest uranium producer, said on Thursday that despite the unrest in Kazakhstan, the company was operating normally and its production or exports were not affected.

Uranium prices rose in the wake of the turmoil in Kazakhstan, with spot prices hitting $45.50 a pound at one point on Wednesday, the highest since November 30, according to Platts.

As the world's largest supplier of uranium, Kazakhstan produces more than 40 per cent of the world's uranium and has 1.69 million tons of uranium reserves, accounting for about 20 per cent of the world's total, ranking second in the world after Australia. Data show that it costs only $9.3 to mine a pound of uranium in Kazakhstan, the lowest cost in the world.

So far, however, political unrest in Kazakhstan does not seem to have affected this key industry. A spokesman for Kazatomprom said that uranium mining is going according to plan, has not stopped, and the company is fulfilling the export contract.

Earlier, the Caspian Sea pipeline consortium said the company was operating normally. The company is responsible for transporting Kazakhstan's main crude oil export mixture.

According to Kazatomprom's official website, the company's attributable production accounted for about 23% of the world's primary uranium production in 2020.

Dragged down by the turmoil in Kazakhstan, Kazatomprom's London-listed shares fell nearly 5 per cent on Thursday, the lowest level since the end of September last year, and the company fell 8 per cent on Wednesday.