RUSSIA’S use of vast Kazakh mineral deposits is “making Swiss cheese” of US and EU sanctions, experts have warned.
Kazakhstan boasts 15 identified Rare Earth Elements (REE) deposits, holding significant reserves of tungsten, molybdenum, lithium, tantalum, niobium and beryllium. These resources are crucial for various high-tech industries, including electronics, renewable energy and defence
Of particular concern is the vital uranium market, which has become the nexus of Russian and Chinese cooperation and which risks leaving the West out in the cold.
Kazakhstan is responsible for 44 per cent of the world’s current uranium production. This uranium plays a crucial role in meeting the West’s energy needs, covering 40 per cent of the United States’ utility requirements and a substantial 44 per cent for the EU.
Uranium is essential for the development of nuclear power plants and last year its price rose by 40 per cent to reach a 14-year-high as more governments expressed their ostensible autonomy had led EU leaders to hope they could use Kazakhstan to bypass Moscow.
This hope was further bolstered by Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s refusal to diplomatically recognise Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
It is now clear, analysts say, that this was to avoid secondary sanctions and that Moscow’s continued sponsorship of Tokayev – who owes his position to a Russian intervention in 2022 – means that Astana is no longer considered a trustworthy ally in that respect.
Russia has been maintaining control of over 26 per cent of Kazakh uranium deposits and holds rights to an additional 22 per cent of annual production.
Meanwhile, China National Uranium Corporation (CNUC) and its counterparts possess rights to almost 60% of future Kazakh production, with plans for a uranium trading hub in Xinjiang, just across the Kazakh border.
Now whistleblowers within the former Soviet republic are shedding light on a whole range of secret deals between Russia and China which has resulted in the furtive takeover of at least one Uranium mining concern.
One example, according to International Business Times, is Aurora Minerals Group, a company founded in 2015 by two former civil servants, Kaisar Kozhamuratov and Said Sultanov.
Aurora is not licensed as a mining operator but rather a service and consultancy provider in mining operations.
According to insiders with personal knowledge of the company, it is now being directly steered by Russian investors, and siphons tens of millions of US dollars worth of uranium sales.
Aurora officials have also met with an official Chinese delegation.
A move last week to place Russia, on the US’ official sanctions list is “far too little far too late”,” said leading US national security expert John Rossomando.
“In truth, fewer than 200 individuals control Kazakhstan’s vast mineral wealth, and we know uranium mining concerns are being used to launder money from Russia and China.
“This is how China and Russia have turned EU and US sanctions into Swiss cheese, making them worthless.
“How else did Russia manage to grow its GDP by 3.5 per cent last year and 2.5 per cent this year? “
He added: “Kazakhstan is a third party to which China sends goods or arms which are then siphoned to Russia. This is worth billions to Russia’s economy, and helps China to achieve the deniability it craves.”