PARIS : French nuclear fuels company Orano is looking to increase output of uranium from new mines in Mongolia and elsewhere to meet rising demand from the nuclear power industry and offset production from its stalled projects in Niger, said CEO Nicolas Maes.
State-owned Orano has had problems exporting uranium from its mines in Niger since the country was taken over by a military junta in 2023 and said late last year it had lost control of its majority-owned projects there.
In January, it signed a preliminary agreement with Mongolia to develop a mining project with potential output of 2,600 metric tons a year by 2044.
It is also looking at expanding output in Uzbekistan as well as Canada, its top source of the material, Maes told journalists.
“We have considerably developed this diversification and that makes us much stronger with regard to geopolitical risk,” he said.
Demand for uranium is set to rise as countries build new nuclear reactors to meet growing demand for clean energy.
Major nuclear power producers like the U.S. are also trying to wean themselves off supplies from Russia, which produces 40 per cent of the world’s enriched uranium.
Orano launched arbitration proceedings in Niger late last year after the seizure of its majority-owned Somair mine by the government.
Around 1,000 metric tons of uranium produced at the mine, worth around 250 million euros ($261.40 million), cannot be shipped out of the country, Maes said.
The company is focusing instead on assets in Uzbekistan, Namibia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, as well as Canada, which accounts for about 5,000 of the 8,000 metric tons that the company mines annually.
“We can eventually be independent from Niger,” Maes said.
Orano reported 2024 revenues of 5.9 billion euros on Wednesday, up 23 per cent on the prior year, largely due to a 1 billion euro waste recycling contract with Japanese utilities.
EBITDA came to 2.1 billion euros compared to 1.2 billion euros in 2023 while net debt fell to 0.78 billion euros compared to 1.48 billion euros at the end of 2023.
Revenues for 2025 are expected to be close to 5 billion euros, the company said.
($1 = 0.9564 euros)
