No uranium mining in Kyrgyzstan: President

AKIPRESS.COM - No uranium mining will take place in Kyrgyzstan, said President Sooronbai Jeenbekov during the meeting with judges of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court on May 4.
During the meeting, Jeenbekov expressed his opinion on highly publicized uranium development topic in Kyrgyzstan.
"We must preserve clean green nature for our future generation. I want to say one thing, no uranium mining will take place in Kyrgyzstan," he said.
He blamed chaos and corruption in the mining industry for the current situation around the Kyzyl-Ompol uranium mine in Issyk-Kul. He said the mining sector, especially licensing, "has drown in corruption." Therefore in 2018, the work on improving the situation in this sector started, in other words, a moratorium on issuing new licenses has been announced, said the President.
The controversy around uranium mining occurred because of the indifferent attitude of the government to this matter, especially given that Issyk-Kul is readying to host tourists soon, according to President.
He complimented the civil society for having shown their active position once again proving that Kyrgyzstan is a country of an open civil society.
On 27 March 2019, Kara-Balta Mining Plant and Economy Polimers Ru LLC signed a cooperation agreement worth $30 million during the state visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Kyrgyzstan. The money will be used to modernize the existing plant and develop uranium deposits in Issyk-Kul. Kara-Balta Mining Plant will process the uranium ore from Kyzyl-Ompol site. The uranium tailings will be buried in the decommissioned tailing storage near the village of Marmara, Sokuluk district, according to the agreement.
Locals protest against the development of uranium since December last year with several big protests taking place in Bishkek and Issyk-Kul region several time sin April.