10 main deals of 2023 – Kommersant

In August 2023, Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachev announced at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the state corporation had gained control over the Budenovsky uranium deposit in Kazakhstan and became the second largest reserve of this metal in the world.

The Budenovskoye field was discovered in 1976. It is located in the Suzak district of the Turkestan region of Kazakhstan and is one of the largest uranium ore deposits in the world. The field is divided into seven sections, which are developed by three joint ventures – Karatau, Akbastau, Budenovskoye. Previously, Rosatom, through its subsidiaries, owned 50% of the Karatau joint venture (reserves of 35.9 thousand tons of uranium) and 50% of the Akbastau joint venture (36.2 thousand tons of uranium). The industry publication of Rosatom reports that now 49% of the Budenovsky joint venture has passed to Uranium One Group and JSC Logistics Center NFC (part of Rosatom). The Budenovskoye joint venture operates at two of the seven sites, the reserves of which amount to 120.1 thousand tons of uranium.

The amount of the transaction was not disclosed; the AK&M news agency estimated it at $1.6 billion. In September 2022, Kazakh publications reported that Gazprombank would provide a loan of $1.6 billion specifically for Rosatom for the acquisition of a uranium asset in Kazakhstan.