Australian company to search for uranium in southern Kazakhstan

C29 Metals, an Australian mining exploration company, has obtained a Category 2 environmental permit, which allows it to start drilling at the Ulytau field in the Zhambyl region.

«C29 Metals Limited is pleased to announce the signing of an MOU with Volkovgeology, a 100% owned subsidiary of Kazatomprom, the national and only uranium producer in Kazakhstan,» the company said in a statement for the media.

With the final design of the initial drilling program at an advanced stage, it is now planned to extend the initial diamond drill holes to a depth of approximately 500 meters for testing historical data.

The Ulytau uranium project is located in the Zhambyl region, about 15 kilometers southwest of the Botaburum mine, one of the largest uranium fields. Exploration in this area has been conducted since 1953, while Botaburum extracted uranium from 1956 until 1991, producing 20,000 tons of the commodity.

The Australian company is expected to start drilling in November this year. According to investors’ estimates, the deposit can contain about 3,800 tons of uranium oxide concentrate. While an independent contractor will be responsible for the drilling and geophysical study of wells, Volkovgeology will provide other geological services and oversee the work overall.