Mining production of uranium (world)

About two-thirds of the world’s production of uranium from mines is from Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia.
An increasing amount of uranium, now over 55%, is produced by in situ leaching

Production from mines (tonnes U)

Country	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Kazakhstan	22,451	23,127	23,607	24,689	23,321	21,705	22,808	19,477	21,819	21,227
Canada	9331	9124	13,325	14,039	13,116	7001	6938	3885	4693	7351
Namibia	4323	3255	2993	3654	4224	5525	5476	5413	5753	5613
Australia	6350	5001	5654	6315	5882	6517	6613	6203	4192	4553
Uzbekistan (est.)	2400	2400	2385	3325	3400	3450	3500	3500	3520	3300
Russia	3135	2990	3055	3004	2917	2904	2911	2846	2635	2508
Niger	4518	4057	4116	3479	3449	2911	2983	2991	2248	2020
China (est.)	1500	1500	1616	1616	1692	1885	1885	1885	1600	1700
India (est.)	385	285	385	385	421	423	308	400	600	600
South Africa (est.)	531	573	393	490	308	346	346	250	192	200
Ukraine	922	926	1200	808	707	790	800	744	455	100
USA	1792	1919	1256	1125	940	582	58	6	8	75
Pakistan (est.)	45	45	45	45	45	45	45	45	45	45
Brazil	192	55	40	44	0	0	0	15	29	43
Iran (est.)	0	0	38	0	40	71	71	71	21	20
Czech Republic	215	193	155	138	0	0	0	0	0	0
Romania	77	77	77	50	0	0	0	0	0	0
France	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Germany	27	33	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Malawi	1132	369	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total world	59,331	56,041	60,304	63,207	60,514	54,154	54,742	47,731	47,808	49,355
tonnes U₃O₈	69,966	66,087	71,113	74,357	71,361	63,861	64,554	56,287	56,377	58,201
% of world demand	91%	85%	98%	96%	93%	80%	81%	74%	76%	74%

* Data from the World Nuclear Association. NB: the figures in this table are liable to change as new data becomes available. Totals may not sum exactly due to rounding.

Mining methods have been changing. In 1990, 55% of world production came from underground mines, but this shrunk dramatically to 1999, with 33% then. From 2000 the new Canadian mines increased it again. In 2022 in situ leach (ISL, also called in situ recovery, ISR) mining accounted for over 55% of production:

Method	tonnes U	%
In situ leach (ISL)	27,773	56%
Underground & open pit (except Olympic Dam)	18,569	38%
By-product	3013	6%

During the 1990s the uranium production industry was consolidated by takeovers, mergers and closures, but this has diversified again with Kazakhstan’s multinational ownership structure. Over half of uranium mine production is from state-owned mining companies, some of which prioritise secure supply over market considerations. In 2022, the top 10 companies by production contributed over 90% of the world’s uranium production:

Company	tonnes U	% of world total
Kazatomprom	11,373	23
Cameco	5675	12
Orano	5519	11
CGN	4627	10
Uranium One	4454	9
Navoi Mining	3300	7
CNNC	3247	7
BHP	2813	6
ARMZ	2508	5
General Atomics/Quasar	1740	4
Other	4098	6
Total	49,355	100

The largest-producing uranium mines in 2022

Mine	Country	Main owner	Type	Production (tonnes U)	% of world
Cigar Lake	Canada	Cameco/Orano	underground	6928	14
Husab	Namibia	Swakop Uranium (CGN)	open pit	3358	7
Inkai, sites 1-3	Kazakhstan	Kazatomprom/Cameco	ISL	3201	7
Olympic Dam	Australia	BHP Billiton	by-product/underground	2813	6
Karatau (Budenovskoye 2)	Kazakhstan	Uranium One/Kazatomprom	ISL	2560	5
Rössing	Namibia	CNNC	open pit	2255	5
SOMAIR	Niger	Orano	open pit	2020	4
Four Mile	Australia	Quasar	ISL	1740	3
Central Mynkuduk	Kazakhstan	Ortalyk	ISL	1650	3
South Inkai 4	Kazakhstan	Uranium One/Kazatomprom	ISL	1600	3
Top 10 total				28,125	57%

World Uranium Mining – World Nuclear Association (world-nuclear.org)

About the author