Paris seeking to secure supplies for nuclear fleet and an ambitious programme of new-build
Mongolia has reached a preliminary agreement with France’s Orano to develop a long-expected uranium mining project worth $1.6bn (€1.5bn).
A draft agreement for the deal was submitted to the Mongolian parliament for preliminary discussion, the Mongolian government said on 27 December.
It said the project, in Dornogovi province in the southeast of Mongolia, would be the first-ever Mongolia-France uranium project.
The project will have an initial investment of $500m and a total investment of $1.6bn. A preparatory phase will run to 2027 with first production expected in 2028, the government said. Peak production will hit 2,600 metric tonnes in 2044, it added.
“This agreement is a significant step forward in boosting inward investment and employment opportunities for the Mongolian people,” the statement cited Mongolian prime minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai as saying.
Orano, a major uranium producer with mines in Canada, Kazakhstan and Niger, has been in Mongolia for more than 25 years carrying out exploration activities, it says on its website.
In October 2023 Orano signed a protocol that it said paved the way for the mining of uranium in Mongolia.
Orano said at the time that the protocol set out the framework for an investment agreement that would give it exploitation rights alongside a local partner for the Zuuvch-Ovoo mine in Dornogovi province.
France’s president Emmanuel Macron has said Mongolia would supply critical metals including uranium to France as Paris seeks to secure supplies for the country’s nuclear fleet and an ambitious programme of new-build.
Orano’s Niger Setback
France imports most of its uranium from Niger, Australia and Kazakhstan. Orano recently began arbitration proceedings against Niger after its licence to operate at the Imouraren uranium deposit was withdrawn earlier this year by a ruling junta that took power in a July 2023 coup.
According to the Nuclear Energy Agency, Mongolia is not producing any uranium, but several mines are in the planning stage of development.
Uranium production in Mongolia started with the operation of the Dornod open-pit mine in the Mardai-gol district in the east of the country in 1989. Ore was transported by rail to Russia for processing, but because of political and economic changes in Mongolia and neighbouring areas of Russia, uranium production at Erdes was terminated in 1995.
Mongolia does not have nuclear generating capacity, but has signalled an interest in the use of small and medium-sized reactors, the agency said.
