In Dave’s [Bhavna Dave, not my friend Dave] Kazakhstan: Ethnicity, language, and power, there is a quote that pops into my mind when I read news regarding Kazakhstan’s resources hailing from the back half of the periodic table. It itself is a quote from a Soviet era geo-bureaucrat, saying that the entire periodic table of elements could be found between Kaakhstan’s Central Asian south and Siberian north. The truth of this statement has been one of the better kept secrets until recently, and Sumitomo recently made a ‘landmark’ deal with Kazakhstan’s government for access to the legion of aging Soviet-era mines of Uranium and rare earth metals. China is not pleased.
The move is expected to spark tit-for-tat dealmaking by Beijing, which has moved quickly to crush any assault on its 98 per cent worldwide monopoly on rare earth production. It may also create a “gold rush” for Kazakhstan’s crumbling Soviet-era uranium mines.
And, fancy that, Kazakhstan just raised its output target for this year. Could be connected, yeah? The interesting thing is that, similar to the comical re-marketing of oil companies as Green, several of the above stories mention that uranium and rare earth metals are an integral ingredient in the Green Revolution. Which is not to say that oil companies aren’t making progress towards efficiencies and certain things, but a coal and oil plant can really only be so green before it ceases to be a coal and oil plant, right? And uranium… well, pick your poison. Do you prefer black lung, oil-slick’d seals, or thyroid cancer?
This post was written by...
Michael Hancock-Parmer – author of 158 posts on Registan.net.
Michael earned an MA in Central Eurasian Studies in 2011 and remains a student at Indiana University pursuing a dual PhD in Russian History and Central Eurasian Studies. He served 6 months in the Peace Corps in Uzbekistan in 2005. After the events in Andijan and the subsequent closure of the program, he served 2 years in southern Kazakhstan, returning to the Midwest in 2007. His general area of interest is on post-Timur Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, centered on the Syr Darya river valley.
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