Kaz M-I is a JV between SLB (49%) and TenizService (51%).
KATCO is a Kazakh-French JV established by the French state-owned company ORANO (51%) and Kazakhstani national atomic company Kazatomprom (49%). KATCO develops, mines and processes uranium in Turkestan oblast in Republic of Kazakhstan.
In 2022, KATCO was granted a mining license for a new site for uranium development. Due to logistical challenges KATCO decided to build a new Liquid Mud Plant (LMP) by themselves. Kaz M-I team has offered a comprehensive solution for the construction of a mobile LMP. It was a rather long way in 2022 and 2023 to convince KATCO to rely on Kaz M-I and don’t build LMP themselves.
In March 2024 KATCO has signed a lease agreement with Kaz M-I for 30 months and its maintenance. Scope of work has been divided in following way:
- KATCO provides foundation (road slabs), roads water and electrical sources
- Kaz M-I provides an LMP as a turnkey project.
The main challenge was to put LMP in operations in 120 days period. KATCO is drilling more than 2000 shallow wells a year on polymer water-based mud (WBM).
LMP has been developed as per KATCO’s individual requirements:
- 4 different mud recipes able to build and dispatch simultaneously.
- 1300 m3 (8’177 bbl) mud building capacity per 24 hours.
- Receive used mud, treat it with solids control equipment for further reuse.
- Available to support activities 24 hrs a day, 12 months a year. Install all equipment with temporary building and all required engineering nets.
Kaz M-I team managed to complete equipment mobilization within 120 days by July 2024 on site.
LMP installation process took 40 days and another 10 days were required for hydraulic testing and commissioning.
It should be noted that absolutely all stages of the work, from design stage to commissioning process, were performed by Kaz M-I specialists.
Xavier Saint-Martin Tillet, President of ORANO Mining, visited KATCO facility at the final stage of new LMP commissioning process. During the visit, a detailed presentation of the company's current and future projects took place. KATCO CEO Pascal Bastien gave a tour of the site, focusing on results of the work aimed at increasing production efficiency and reducing the environmental impact. KATCO confirmed its commitment to implementing innovative solutions that will optimize production, improve safety and increase transparency in operations.
LPM has been put in operation in September 2024. This is a first project for Kaz M-I (but not last) with Uranium companies in Kazakhstan.
We are already discussing with KATCO our next project aimed to improve ecology performance on uranium mine site.
#Teamwork #WCF #WCE #HSE
