An institute for rare and critical minerals is being set up in Ust-Kamenogorsk, built on existing laboratories at the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University and working with scientists from Belgium, 24KZ reported on October 18 and Seventh Channel on October 19.
The institute is meant to improve technologies for extracting in-demand rare and rare-earth metals, lithium in particular. University researchers plan to work with Belgian colleagues on efficient ways to recover lithium from mined ore and from waste accumulated in mine tailings facilities.
"Europe and the US are now acutely short of rare-earth metals. Kazakhstan can be more than a raw materials base. We can introduce on our territory technologies that already exist in Europe, America and China," said Yernat Kozhakhmetov, head of the university's VERITAS laboratory.
Both broadcasters said Kazakhstan has more than 120 rare and rare-earth metal deposits, of which no more than 40 have been explored, with the most promising areas in the east. The country produces about 20 metals that matter to the European and US economies. 24KZ also quoted Bart Blanpain, a professor at the Institute for Sustainable Metals and Minerals in Leuven, as saying the universities are ready to cooperate.
[Unconfirmed] Only 24KZ reports that Kazakhstan exports molybdenum ore and titanium to Belgium, that more than KZT 67 billion of budget money has gone into geological exploration since 2018, that 38 prospective areas have been identified across 11 sites, and that global demand for lithium-ion batteries rose 29% in 2025.
Reports differ on the project's stage: the broadcasters describe the institute as being created, while the Eurasia Critical Minerals portal said on October 15 that it had been launched. None of the reports gives a timeline, funding source or list of Belgian partner institutions.
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The initiative comes during the state visit of Belgium's King Philippe. On October 13, according to the government press service as reported by Kazinform, the King and Queen and Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov held a round table on critical minerals at Nazarbayev University, covering hydrometallurgy and industrial waste recycling; the university's Institute of New Materials and Energy Technologies (INMET) presented technologies for making battery materials from domestic lithium and nickel. [Unconfirmed] This comes from a single source, and the reports do not link the round table to the Ust-Kamenogorsk institute; any connection is the newsroom's inference.
On lithium resources, Vice Minister of Industry and Construction Iran Sharkhan said earlier that Korea's KIGAM, which studied waste dumps at the Bakennoye deposit in East Kazakhstan, had confirmed industrial lithium reserves and that registration on the state balance had begun. [Unconfirmed] This was reported by dprom.kz on July 1; Sharkhan said that under the Subsoil Code the figures can only be disclosed in 2031.
In the newsroom's view, recovering lithium from tailings needs less capital than a new mine, so the institute could become a venue for technology and pilot projects with foreign partners. The real scope will become clear once its charter and funding arrangements are published.
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Sources:
- 24KZ, 2026-10-18: https://24.kz/ru/news/social/800066-institut-redkikh-i-kriticheski-vazhnykh-mineralov-sozdayut-v-ust-kamenogorske
- Седьмой канал (tv7.kz), 2026-10-19: https://tv7.kz/ru/projects/news-ru/49633-v-ust-kamenogorske-sozdajut-institut-redkih-i-kriticheski-vazhnyh-mineralov/
- Eurasia Critical Minerals, 2026-10-15: https://eurasiaminerals.org/2026/10/15/kazakhstan-and-belgium-launch-research-institute-for-critical-materials-and-sustainable-metallurgy-in-ust-kamenogorsk/
- Kazinform, 2026-10-13: https://www.inform.kz/ru/kazahstan-i-belgiya-namereni-razvivat-sovmestnie-proekti-po-pererabotke-mineralo-1d143bd6
- dprom.kz, 2026-07-01: https://dprom.kz/novosti/korejskaya-kompaniya-pristupila-k-novomu-etapu-otsenki-zapasov-litiya-na-bakennom/
- Code of Kazakhstan on Subsoil and Subsoil Use (adilet K1700000125): https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/K1700000125
(This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed by an editor; the illustration is AI-generated and is not a photograph.)