Kazakhstan to double copper ore production with new mining projects

ASTANA. July 22 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan plans to double its copper ore output to 300 million tonnes per year by developing new major deposits, Deputy Industry and Construction Minister Olzhas Saparbekov said at a government meeting.

"The measures being taken to develop the mining and metallurgical sector will yield significant results in the medium term. The launch of the Aidarly, Koksay and Benkala deposits will enable us to double copper ore production to 300 million tonnes annually," Saparbekov said.

He also said iron ore production was expected to grow 40% to 52 million tonnes following an expected increase in the domestic processing volume by Qarmet and after the commissioning of new hot-briquetted iron projects.

These measures will help boost copper output from 500,000 to 1.2 million tonnes, hot-briquetted iron production to 5 million tonnes, and steel output from 4.1 million to 13 million tonnes.

"By 2030, a significant portion of produced metals will be processed domestically into higher-value products. Copper processing is projected to reach 91,000 tonnes, aluminum 163,000 tonnes and lead 81,000 tonnes," Saparbekov said.

The Benkala deposit is located in the Aktobe region. The operator of the project is Benkala Mining Company JSC, which is owned by Russia's Amros Group B.V (70%), businessman Vladimir Djumanbayev (20%) and D.M. Orazayev (10%), the chairman of the company's board of directors. Amros Group B.V belongs to Russian national Natalya Smirnova.

The Aidarly deposit is located in the Abay region. The operator of the deposit is Aidarly Project JSC, owned by Kazakhmys Corporation (68.95%) and the Netherlands-incorporated Aidarly B.V. (31.05%). The reserves of the Aidarly deposit are estimated at 53 billion tonnes of ore, including 5.87 million tonnes of copper with an average content of 0.38%, as well as 14.1 tonnes of gold and 2,168 tonnes of silver.

The Koksay deposit, located in the Zhetysu region, is owned by Consolidated Construction Mining Company LLP, which is part of the Kazakhmys Corporation. According to preliminary estimates, Koksay contains 823.7 million tonnes of ore, including 3.5 million tonnes of copper with an average content of 0.42%, as well as 63.7 tonnes of gold and 865 tonnes of silver.

Kazakhmys plans to build ore processing plants at Aidarly by 2027 and Koksay by 2026 with an annual capacity of 50 million tonnes of ore. In 2023, Kazakhmys announced its intention to invest 2.1 trillion tenge in these projects.