Kazatomprom, the world's largest uranium miner, is unaffected by the ongoing turmoil in the Central Asian state, Reuters reported the Kazakh producer as saying.

"Uranium mining is going according to plan, there have been no stoppages," a Kazatomprom spokesperson said. "The company is fulfilling its export contracts."

Uranium prices have spiked to US$45.5 per pound, the highest since Nov. 30, as protests and crackdowns spread across the vast country.

Protests initially sprang up in the oil-rich west of the country, in response to increasing prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) which many Kazakhs use to power their cars. The protests have now grown to include critics of Kazakhstan's long autocratic rule.

A former Soviet state, Kazakhstan was ruled by Nursultan Nazarbayev from 1991 until 2019. Nazarbayev ally Kassym-Jomart Toqayev was elected president in a vote condemned by observers as unfree in 2019. Nazarbayev remained in government in a national security position.

In an effort to quell the protests, Toqayev dismissed his cabinet as well as Nazarbayev. Toqayev has also called on Russian-led regional security organisation CSTO to provide assistance in restoring order to the country.

Around 1,000 have been injured, while ‘dozens' of anti-government protesters have been killed in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty, BBC News reported.