A Chinese-backed copper project in the Aktobe Special Economic Zone has been scaled down to a wire and cable plant. Copper smelting and scrap recycling are out, the factory will start from finished copper rod, and the investment budget falls from about $100 million to about $35 million. Expected headcount drops from 250 jobs to roughly 100.
The change was set out in an open letter from Zhao Jinbiao, general director of Phoenix Industrial Group LLP, the Kazakhstan-registered project company. The Aktobe SEZ management company released the letter on October 7, the local paper Diapazon printed it in full and Aktobe Times reported on it. Kursiv and other national outlets picked up the story on October 19.
What was announced in May
Ground was broken on the Eurasian Integrated Green Copper Industry Project on May 25. The investors are China's Beijing Jinyi Yuanfang Holding Group and Phoenix Industrial Group, with backing from the Aktobe regional administration and the national investment agency Kazakh Invest. According to Kazakh Invest, the plant was designed to turn copper scrap collected around the country into 25,000 tons of refined copper a year and to make copper rod and cable. The budget was put at about $100 million, with a 2027 start, 250 permanent jobs and sales to Kazakhstan, the Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union. The deputy regional governor said at the ceremony that it was the first plant to be built in the zone.
What has been cut
The letter describes the original plan as two stages: copper rod made from cathode copper and secondary non-ferrous feedstock, then wire and cable. The first stage is gone, along with copper melting, scrap processing and any other high-temperature metallurgy. The new line begins with purchased rod and runs through wire drawing, stranding of conductors, insulation extrusion, forming, cable assembly, quality control and dispatch.
The $35 million covers the buildings, wire and cable equipment, process and environmental monitoring systems, utilities, raw material purchases and start-up costs. Around 100 jobs are expected at full capacity, and the company says it will run free cable-making courses for local workers. The letter gives no new launch date.
How the investor explains it
Rules related to this news
Phoenix Industrial Group says the decision followed further work on technical, production and market parameters, and that the new set-up keeps environmental impact to a minimum. The project stays in the zone and will go through every procedure Kazakh law requires, according to the letter. Local coverage frames it differently: the site near the airport is close to the city, and residents and environmental activists had been worried about emissions since spring. Regional representatives, specialists and community members had earlier visited similar plants in China.
The environmental category is still open
The company cites a preliminary expert view that the revised plant qualifies as a Category III facility. Article 12 of Kazakhstan's Environmental Code sorts facilities into four categories by their negative impact, and Category III covers facilities with an insignificant impact. The category drives the paperwork: building and operating Category I and II facilities requires an environmental permit (Article 106), while Category III operators file an environmental impact declaration with the local executive body (Article 110). The letter itself says the final category and required procedures will be set under the statutory process. Aktobe Times reports that emission and waste estimates for the new design have not yet been made public.
Takeaways for investors
The project has lost almost two-thirds of its budget. Going by the letter and local reporting, the dispute centred on melting scrap at a site next to a city. Manufacturers eyeing suburban economic zones may want answers to three questions early:
- Which category the project falls into under Annex 2 of the Environmental Code, whether an impact assessment or screening is needed, and whether the schedule leaves room for it.
- How far the site is from housing and which way the prevailing wind blows, since both quickly become local talking points.
- Whether investment documents signed with the zone operator and Kazakh Invest must be amended if the technology or budget changes midway.
The cover image is an AI-generated illustration and does not depict the events in this article.
Sources:
Diapazon (October 2026, full text of the Phoenix Industrial Group letter), https://diapazon.kz/news/138874-na-novom-zavode-plavit-med-ne-budut-proekt-peredelali
Aktobe Times (October 2026), https://aktobetimes.kz/novosti/14239-kitajskij-investor-otkazalsja-ot-prevraschenija-aktobe-v-svalku-mednyh-othodov.html
Kursiv (October 19, 2026), https://kz.kursiv.media/2026-10-19/svan-kitajcy-v-tri-raza-sokratili-investicii-v-zavod-v-aktobe-iz-za-zhalob-na-vred-ekologii/
Kazakh Invest, Aktobe region (May 25, 2026), https://aktobe.invest.gov.kz/media-center/press-releases/v-aktobe-dan-start-stroitelstvu-evraziyskogo-integrirovannogo-zavoda-zelenoy-mednoy-promyshlennosti/
The Astana Times (May 2026), https://astanatimes.com/2026/05/kazakhstan-launches-100-million-green-copper-plant-project-in-aktobe/
Environmental Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, No. 400-VI of January 2, 2021, https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/K2100000400