News

Zhetisu Volfram, a subsidiary of Jiaxin International Resources Investment Limited, plans to expand the tailings storage facility at the Boguty tungsten concentrator in Almaty Region. According to Jiaxin International’s announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the contractor is China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Kazakhstan Branch.

On 17 June the Ministry of Industry and Construction auctioned 23 solid minerals mining sites (unconfirmed) on the e-qazyna.kz portal: some lots, including the Verkhne-Lobaksai tantalum-beryllium site in East Kazakhstan, were sold, while others drew no bids. From 12 August to 11 September it took exploration applications via the Unified Subsoil Use Platform for areas covering more than 138,000 blocks (unconfirmed); where two or more applications target one block, an auction decides. The rules are in Articles 221-1 to 221-5 and 189-1 of the Subsoil Code.

Yonggang Central Asia Iron and Steel LLP, the Kazakh subsidiary of China's Fujian Hengwang Investment Co., Ltd., is building a full-cycle steel complex in the Jibek Joly special economic zone in Zhambyl region's Shu district. Design capacity is up to 3 million tonnes of steel products a year, with a 1-million-tonne first phase due in 2027 and full capacity by 2029. Around 2,500 permanent jobs are expected. Project documentation describes natural-gas-based direct reduction and electric arc furnaces, while the Prime Minister's website refers to a hydrogen-based shaft furnace.

On August 20, President Tokayev chaired a Security Council meeting on critical materials, including rare and rare-earth metals, and told the government to improve regulation and develop exploration and processing (unconfirmed). Kazakhstan has no national list or legal definition of critical minerals; the key document is the 2024–2028 rare and rare-earth metals plan (Decree No. 1221). On October 12, the industry ministry said a rare-earth research centre's lab complex will be built from 2027 and fully operate by end-2028 (unconfirmed); 15 tonnes a year of gallium is planned.

Kazatomprom kept its 2026 uranium production guidance at 27,500–29,000 tU on a 100% basis (unconfirmed) but raised attributable C1 cash cost guidance to US$25.50–27.00/lb from US$23.50–25.00 (unconfirmed), citing a higher mineral extraction tax rate (unconfirmed), costlier sulphuric acid and a stronger tenge. After a contractor found potential paleontological specimens at the TQZ sulphuric acid plant site, work in the affected zone was suspended and commissioning moved from Q1 2027 to between Q3 2027 and Q1 2028.

China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. chairman Wen Gang visited Kazakhmys headquarters on October 19 for talks with board chairman Oleg Novachuk (unconfirmed). China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. says the trip follows up on understandings the two sides reached in Beijing in September. The same day he toured the Kazakhstan subsidiary of China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd., the listed engineering arm of China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd.

In the village of Sharavka near Ridder in East Kazakhstan, Central Asia Kaisheng Minerals & Energy International Group Ltd. levelled a site and removed topsoil on agricultural land. The city administration says the company holds a permit to explore for precious metals but has no right to mine, and that it went beyond the agreed works. Regional police have opened a pre-trial investigation under Part 3 of Article 334 of the Criminal Code (unconfirmed); the ecology department has imposed fines and ordered land restoration. Work has stopped.

Kazakhstan Kincaid Tianshan Electronic Information Technology Co., Ltd. received solid minerals exploration licence No. 4973-EL on October 19 (unconfirmed), according to the national subsoil use platform. The licence runs until October 19, 2032 (unconfirmed); the registry lists 59 block numbers on map sheet M-44 (counted by number) (unconfirmed).

Kazakhstan's e-Qazyna register, run by the Ministry of Industry and Construction, shows 13 exploration licences for solid minerals issued between October 15 and 19, including 11 on October 19 alone (Nos. 4969-EL to 4979-EL), each valid for six years. Holders include Sararka Metals LLP, whose sole beneficiary is a Chinese national, and Anglo REM CA Exploration Mining Ltd, which has a UK founder. Two geological study licences covering 6,550 and 7,300 blocks were issued the same day. The licence cards list block numbers and counts, but not the target mineral or the area. (unconfirmed)

Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMP), part of Kazatomprom, is working to broaden its feedstock base for beryllium, tantalum and niobium. According to Qazba.kz, citing an exploration plan, the plant intends to explore for the three metals at the Vostochny-1 site in Karaganda region's Shet district in 2027–2029 (unconfirmed). Ulba's tantalum operation remains on the Responsible Minerals Initiative's list of RMAP-conformant tantalum smelters. The Verkhne-Lobaksai tantalum-beryllium site in East Kazakhstan was sold at a 17 June auction.

An institute for rare and critical minerals is being set up in Ust-Kamenogorsk on the basis of laboratories at the D. Serikbayev East Kazakhstan Technical University. Working with Belgian scientists, it will refine technologies for extracting rare and rare-earth metals, lithium in particular, from mined ore and tailings. Kazakhstan has more than 120 rare and rare-earth metal deposits, no more than 40 of them explored.