Will China’s ‘no tunnel, no toxic waste’ uranium mine be a nuclear energy game changer?

Country’s largest natural uranium project yields first barrel using in situ leaching in ‘green, safe, intelligent and efficient’ approach

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Breakthrough at Inner Mongolia’s “National No 1 Uranium” demonstration project has been hailed as “a systematic technological leap” likely to reshape uranium mining and processing in China. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:02pm, 13 Jul 2025

China has made a breakthrough in uranium mining and processing by unlocking complex sandstone deposits once seen as too challenging to develop, as Beijing ramps up efforts towards a green transition and energy security.

The country’s largest natural uranium project had yielded its first barrel, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced on Saturday.

The “National No 1 Uranium” demonstration project was launched a year ago in the Ordos basin of northern Inner Mongolia, home to China’s largest natural uranium deposits.

State news agency Xinhua said the successful mining marked a “green, safe, intelligent and efficient” approach that would boost China’s competitiveness in the natural uranium sector.

It also signifies a shift in China’s uranium production centre, from central Jiangxi province to the north.

While uranium mining in China has traditionally focused on volcanic and granite deposits around Lean in Jiangxi province, sandstone-type uranium deposits have been uncovered over the past two decades in northern China, particularly Inner Mongolia.

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