Uranium Jumps as Unrest Hits World’s Top Supplier Kazakhstan
- Protests swept Kazakhstan, the world’s No. 1 uranium producer
- ‘It’d be like if the Saudis had issues in oil’: UxC’s Hinze
Protesters take part in a rally over a hike in energy prices in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Jan. 5.
Photographer: Abduaziz Madyarov/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Uranium prices jumped as Kazakhstan, the world’s largest producer of the radioactive metal, struggles to cope with deadly protests that pose the biggest challenge to the country’s leadership in decades.
The Central Asian nation, a part of the former Soviet Union that produces more than 40% of the world’s uranium, has disrupted communications networks and restricted some travel in a bid to quell the unrest. The Kremlin said Russia and its allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization will send “peacekeeping forces” after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appealed for assistance.