Uranium was the highlight of the last day of Mining Week in Mongolia, coincidentally on the same day that Mongolian President Khurelsukh U. inked a $1.7 billion contract for uranium mining in Paris.

Why did France and Mongolia get involved? 

Well, uranium is a special material used to make electricity in nuclear power plants. So, the demand for uranium comes from countries with big nuclear power plants like the U.S., France, and China. Also, the price of uranium has gone up a lot in the past 5 years, now it's $69 for every pound. So, France wants to get uranium from Mongolia because France needs to diversify and secure supplies of raw materials.

• The contract: Orano will operate the Zövch-Ovoo mine in Mongolia's Gobi desert. They plan to start building it next year and begin mining in 2028. This means in the future, Orano's project will make up about 4% of all the uranium in the world.
• But, here's the thing: The uranium project has 3 parts - getting ready, making uranium, and rehabilating. This whole project will last for 47 years. They will finish getting ready from 2024 to 2027, make uranium from 2028 to 2060, and then rehabilitate from 2061 to 2070.

What's for Mongolia? The deal with France states that Mongolia will not have any share or will only receive royalty up to 19%. Specifically, the royalty's income from the uranium project is estimated to be $47 million per year.

Either way, Mongolia will soon be a big supplier of uranium. Now it is necessary to move forward with the project and speed up the next contracts.