Kazakhstan said yesterday it had overtaken Canada and Australia to become the world's biggest uranium miner as nations rich in the resource ramp up production to sell into a resurgent nuclear power industry.
The announcement came the day after allegations that Kazakhstan was close to clinching a $450m deal to sell 1,350 tons of uranium to Iran. Exports to Iran of purified uranium known as “yellowcake” would breach United Nations sanctions imposed on Tehran for refusing to freeze its uranium enrichment programme.
The report, which was immediately rejected by Iran, raised alarm bells in Washington, where the State Department said “full implementation of existing [UN] sanctions is a vital aspect of the international community's efforts to prevent Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability through diplomacy”.