Orano - Annual Activity Report 2024 34 2 SITUATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE COMPANY AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES DURING THE PAST FINANCIAL YEAR The group’s businesses On March 31, 2021, the Akouta mine in Niger operated by Cominak (Compagnie Minière d’Akouta) ceased production after more than 40 years of operation and nearly 76,000 metric tons of uranium extracted. The cessation of mining activities had been decided by the Board of Directors of Cominak on October 23, 2019, in response to the depletion of the deposit. Cominak is 69%-owned by Orano Mining, after taking over the 25% share of the Japanese company OURD (Overseas Uranium Resources Development) at the end of February 2021 and the 10% share of the Spanish company ENUSA (Enusa Industrias Avanzadas SA) at the end of December 2022. The second other shareholder is SOPAMIN (Niger) with 31%. Following the cessation of its activities, a multi-year redevelopment plan was put in place. Despite the external difficulties encountered by the Orano group in 2024, its deployment went according to plan. Imouraren SA is held at 66.65% by Orano Expansion, itself held at 95.281% by Orano Mining and at 4.719% by KHNP, 23.35% by SOPAMIN and 10% by the State of Niger. On June 20, 2024, the company Imouraren SA was notified by the ministry of Mines of Niger of the withdrawal of its permit to mine the deposit of the same name. Imouraren SA and Orano consider that this withdrawal of the permit does not comply with the agreements made and the licenses granted, and have initiated administrative and legal proceedings to protect their rights before the competent national and international bodies (Section 3.3.5.2). Kazakhstan Katco was established in 1996 to develop and mine the Muyunkum and Tortkuduk deposits in southern Kazakhstan, approximately 250 kilometers north of Shymkent. Katco operates one of the largest uranium mines in the world using the ISR technique, with a capacity of 4,000 metric tons of uranium per year. Its shareholders are Orano Mining (51%) and KazAtomProm (49%), Kazakhstan’s national natural uranium producer. In 2024, production was 2,388 metric tons of uranium, benefiting from the start-up of South Tortkuduk. In April 2017, Orano and KazAtomProm signed a strategic agreement aimed at strengthening their long-standing cooperation in the uranium mining sector in Kazakhstan, including the development of the South Tortkuduk project, which will ensure its production over the next two decades. In line with this agreement, in August 2022, Katco and the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan signed an amendment to the contract for the use of the existing subsoil, making it possible to undertake the industrial development of the South Tortkuduk parcel of the Muyunkum uranium deposit. The start of production at South Tortkuduk is progressing on schedule with the first metric ton of uranium produced in June 2024. An estimated return to Katco’s nominal production of around 4,000 metric ton of uranium per year is expected no earlier than 2026. The extension of the Muyunkum deposit following the obtaining of the Kanjugan land permit at the end of 2019 makes it possible to ensure the transition. In a memorandum of understanding, signed in November 2022, Orano Mining and KazAtomProm intend to maintain and strengthen their cooperation in the uranium mining industry. Namibia In Namibia, Orano owns the entire Trekkopje deposit in the Swakopmund region, as well as a water desalination plant, purpose-built at the outset to fulfill the needs of the Trekkopje mining operations, with a capacity of 20 million m3 per year. The deterioration of uranium market conditions prompted Orano to mothball the Trekkopje project in October 2012. The Trekkopje project is an important asset for Orano given its location in a jurisdiction favorable to mining. This project is subject to periodic review to verify whether the conditions for bringing the mine into production have been met. The desalination plant is operating at about 60% of its capacity and sells its production to Namwater, the Namibian water company, for neighboring mines and local communities. In 2022, Orano Mining Namibia signed a ten-year electricity purchase contract (Power Purchase Agreement) with InnoSun Energy Holdings, which will build a 5 MW solar power plant at the Trekkopje site and excavation work began in 2023. The plant is scheduled to start production in 2025. Mongolia On January 17, 2025, Orano signed the investment agreement to the develop and commission the Zuuvch Ovoo mining project, located in south-eastern Mongolia. This agreement is the result of more than 25 years of the group’s presence in the country, during which Orano Mining teams discovered this world-class deposit and demonstrated the feasibility of its industrial mining. This mining project, which has considerable uranium resources, will be operated by Badrakh Energy, a joint venture owned by Orano and the Mongolian state company MonAtom. In November 2024, the Mongolian Parliament approved amendments to the law on nuclear energy establishing the option for the Mongolian State to reduce its equity interest in the capital of the operating company in exchange for a higher mining royalty on uranium resources exploitation. Under the terms of the investment agreement, the equity interest of the Mongolian State, representing 34% of the share capital of Badrakh Energy since 2017, will be reduced to 10% in the form of free, non-contributory and non-dilutive preferred shares, in return for an additional mining royalty indexed to the market price of the uranium. Scheduled to last 30 years, this project represents an initial investment of approximately 500 million dollars before mining of the deposit starts and a total of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars over the life of the mine with the creation of 1,600 direct and indirect jobs. The development of the project will take four years before the start of production of the Zuuvch Ovoo mine, whose nominal capacity is estimated at around 2,500 metric tons of uranium per year. Zuuvch Ovoo is the first uranium project in Mongolia to cover all stages of uranium mining, from extraction to production, to the export of concentrates. The pilot successfully operated between 2021 and 2022 confirmed the technical and economic feasibility of future production on an industrial scale and highlighted the low environmental impact of the ISR extraction method.
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