The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan has passed in the first reading the decree on canceling the moratorium of developing uranium deposits.
The moratorium on the extraction of uranium and thorium was imposed after a scandal around the Kyzyl-Ompol deposit near the Issyk-Kul Lake.
In spring of 2019, it became known that the UrAsia in Kyrgyzstan company received a license to develop the deposit, but the locals held a protest. As a result, the Parliament prohibited uranium extraction.
5 years later, in February 2024, the president Sadyr Japarov raised the issue of uranium extraction at a meeting with the citizens of a number of settlements of Issyk-Kul and Naryn regions. According to him, the project will result in huge economic profit.
“We can say that the second Kumtor has been opened. There (at the Kyzyl-Ompol deposit group) there are around 10 deposits. We would get more than $2 billion of net profit from one deposit. Last year, Kumtor’s net profit exceeded $300 million. The company paid $335 million worth of taxes. If this deposit launches, it will also bring benefit to the people and the state,” Japarov said.
The Kyzyl-Ompol deposit contains 14.7 million tons of ore, of which 95% is titanomagnetite, 3% – phosphorous, around 2% – zirconium, 0.22% – thorium and 0.17% – uranium. (Ukrainian metal)