The president of Kazakh uranium giant KazAtomProm, the world's largest uranium producer, has died in Beijing.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry confirmed media reports saying that Nurlan Kapparov, 44, died of a heart attack at a lunch in the Chinese capital on March 26.
The Kazakh Embassy in Beijing is arranging to send Kapparov's body to Kazakhstan, the ministry said.
Kapparov had been head of KazAtomProm since August 2014.
KazAtomProm is Kazakhstan's state-owned nuclear holding company producing such strategic materials as uranium, beryllium, tantalum, and niobium.
In recent years KazAtomProm has expanded operations, promising now to be able to supply the entire cycle of civilian nuclear needs from raw uranium to processed fuel.
The driving force behind KazAtomProm's rise to becoming the world leader in uranium production is Mukhtar Dzhakishev, who has been serving a 14-year prison term for embezzlement since 2009.
Several prominent Kazakh businessmen have said Dzhakishev's imprisonment was politically motivated.
CEOs of 22 Kazakh corporations signed an open letter to the government criticizing the case's effects on the business environment at the time.
