The Orano group signs an agreement to operate a uranium mine in Mongolia

The French public group Orano (formerly Areva) signed, Friday January 17 in Ulaanbaatar, an agreement for the exploitation of a vast uranium mine with Mongolia, an investment presented by Paris as important for supply French power plants.

The agreement was notably signed by the French delegate minister responsible for foreign trade, Laurent Saint-Martin, and by the general director of Orano, Nicolas Maes, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse. “This is an important contract in terms of energy sovereignty and strategic autonomy”Laurent Saint-Martin’s services told AFP. This agreement “realizes the French ambition to secure, for the coming decades, its uranium supply”they also said in a press release.

This signature has been awaited since October 2023, when the memorandum of understanding on the operation of this site was initialed in France during a state visit by Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh.

A “major” deposit

Discussions began between Orano and the Mongolian government more than two years ago. Details of the final agreement, which were not immediately revealed, should be known during the day on Friday.

According to a press release from the Mongolian government cited by the press and released in 2024, the agreement provided for a total investment of 1.6 billion dollars (1.55 billion euros) with an initial investment of 500 million and a first effective production in 2027.

According to Orano, this Zürkh-Ovoo (or Zuuvch-Ovoo) uranium deposit, discovered by the company's geologists in southwest Mongolia, is “major”. It has around 90,000 tonnes of resources and is expected to be exploited over three decades. According to estimates, production from this future site should be around 2,500 tonnes per year.

To give an order of magnitude, this is around a quarter of the annual consumption of the French nuclear fleet. Important point, however: the extracted uranium will not only be directed to France, Orano having clients other than EDF, the operator of French power stations.

For France, ensuring the supply of uranium to French power plants by a national company, Orano, 90% owned by the State, is crucial, because this makes it possible to secure supplies. This Franco-Mongolian project has been developed for several years by Badrakh Energy, the joint venture between Orano and the Mongolian public company MonAtom.