the Kazakhstan, little known country in Central Asia, is nevertheless rich. He first, in quantity, an essential material for nuclear energy: uranium. The country, which is five times the size of France, is the world’s largest producer: 40% of the international market, and between 15 and 20% of world reserves. Le Kazakhstan is therefore dahead of Canada and Niger, and just behind Australia.
And recent events in the country have had the direct consequence of pushing up the price of uranium, at nearly 46 dollars, close to its highest level in history, at 48 dollars. Many companies are therefore monitoring the situation in Kazakhstan like milk on the fire, and in the first place the French Orano, the former Areva.
Half of the uranium mined by Orano actually comes from Kazakhstan, through a joint Franco-Kazakh company, Katco. It operates several mines in the south of the country, including the largest uranium mine in the world, with an otherwise controversial mining technique. Orano ensures that the political unrest has no impact on the activity of its sites, and that no evacuation of personnel is envisaged for the moment.
But it’s not just uranium: the subsoil of Kazakhstan is Ali Baba’s cave. The country is indeed the world’s largest producer of chromium, used in the manufacture of steel. And it is also among the ten most important producers in the world of many minerals: zinc, lead, iron, copper, coal, manganese, cobalt, gold, titanium, tungsten, and several rare metals used in the high technology sector.
AT to this list are added gas and especially oil, with the Tengiz and Kashagan fields. These offshore deposits of the Caspian Sea, in the west of the country, represent between 2 and 3% of the world’s oil reserves. A few years ago, Kazakhstan even saw itself as the future oil champion, but the reserves turned out to be smaller than expected. The production is nevertheless very significant and largely covers the needs of the 18 million inhabitants of the country, with more than half of the exported production. Kazakhstanis are therefore used to having cheap fuel. As a reminder, it was the sudden doubling of the price of liquefied natural gas, used as fuel, which triggered the first demonstrations.
The list of economic issues does not end there. Kazakhstan has also become one of the world’s main centers for mining bitcoin, the most famous of the cryptocurrencies. It is home to around 15% of the world’s computing power. The dry and cold climate is favorable for cooling computers. And the Chinese decision to close this activity has led many “bitcoin miners” to redeploy in Kazakhstan. The price of the cryptocurrency has also recorded a fairly sharp drop since the start of the violence in the country, but it is difficult to know if there is a direct link with the events in Central Asia.
Finally, Kazakhstan is a commercial crossroads on the Chinese “new silk roads”, between East and West. And it is home to the Russian Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is essential for the Russian space industry. So that’s a lot of economic interests at stake.