Uzbekistan aims to double uranium production by 2030 to a level exceeding Canada’s entire 2024 output, as state-owned Navoiyuran develops new deposits and reduces its reliance on sulphuric acid.
The Central Asian country is targeting 15,000 tonnes a year, up from an expected 7,500 tonnes in 2026, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s office said Nov. 5. Canada produced about 14,300 tonnes in 2024, according to Natural Resources Canada.
“In particular, the share of reagents used as alternatives to sulfuric acid is expected to reach 40 percent by 2030,” the president’s office said.
The planned increase would add 7,500 tonnes a year to the nuclear fuel market. Delivering that growth will depend on developing deposits and securing processing chemicals, whose availability has also shaped production plans at neighbouring Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom (LSE: KAP).
Production targets
The 2030 goal was announced in March, when the government also targeted 8,000 tonnes for 2026. November’s statement puts this year’s figure at 7,500 tonnes without explaining the difference. The Northern Miner has asked the President’s office for clarification.
State-owned Navoiyuran produced 7,000 tonnes of natural uranium in 2025, a 35% increase from 2024, the company said. That places it among the world’s six largest producers, according to UxC data published in the third quarter.
Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium producer, reported output of 25,839 tonnes in 2025 on a 100% basis, including its partners’ shares. Its own attributable production was 13,519 tonnes.
Like those of Kazatomprom, Navoiyuran’s uranium operations all use in-situ recovery (ISR), which injects a solution underground to dissolve uranium. The uranium-bearing solution is then pumped to the surface for processing. The technique generally requires less infrastructure than open-pit or underground mining.
Reducing acid use
Plans call for new production plants and infrastructure, additional sorption units and increased supplies of chemical reagents, including sulphur, Mirziyoyev’s office said.
Uzbekistan also aims to expand its explored uranium reserves to 200,000 tonnes by 2030, the president’s office said. Navoiyuran operates 43 deposits and separately reported ore reserves containing 96,600 tonnes of uranium under the JORC Code as of Jan. 1, 2026, without disclosing the proven and probable breakdown or average grade.
Kazatomprom has identified sulphuric acid availability as a condition of its 2026 production guidance.
Separately, equipment problems at the sulphuric acid plant at Orano’s McClean Lake mill forced Cameco (TSX: CCO; NYSE: CCJ) to temporarily suspend production at its Cigar Lake mine in Saskatchewan in July. The mine subsequently resumed production.
Navoiyuran’s net profit rose 138% to $348 million (C$491.5 million) in the first half of 2026, from $146.2 million in the same period of 2025, the company said Oct. 30.
Major new mine
Navoiyuran started commercial production at its Qizilkok mine in the country’s central Navoi region in April. The deposit contains 9,400 tonnes of uranium in preliminary JORC-compliant ore reserves as of Jan. 1, 2026, according to the company’s April 24 statement, which does not disclose the reserve grade or proven/probable breakdown. Qizilkok has a projected mine life of 15 years and annual production capacity of 1,200 tonnes.
Located about 400 km west of the capital Tashkent, Qizilkok is the company’s third-largest deposit by uranium reserves behind its core operations of Sugrali and Uchkuduk.
Navoiyuran became a standalone company in 2022, when it was spun out from the Soviet-era state conglomerate Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine.
The government’s April 2025 privatization plans included an initial public offering of a 10% to 15% stake in Navoiyuran, initially targeted for the second half of 2026. The government’s investment portal describes such timetables as indicativeand it hasn’t identified a listing exchange.
Uzbekistan also announced a $2.6-billion initiative last year to develop 76 projects covering 28 minerals over three years.
Source: www.northernminer.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.
