Kyrgyz-Chinese firm to start mining gold in northern Kyrgyzstan in June 2014
BISHKEK. Aug 16 (Interfax) - Kyrgyz-Chinese company Altynken plans to begin producing gold at the large Taldy-Bulak Levoberezhny gold deposit in northern Kyrgyzstan in June 2014, Kyrgyzaltyn deputy chief executive Kylychbek Shakirov said at a press conference on Thursday.
Kyrgyzaltyn, which is wholly owned by the government of Kyrgyzstan, owns 40% of Altynken and Superb Pacific Limited, a subsidiary of leading Chinese miner Zijin Mining, owns 60%.
Shakirov said construction work on production infrastructure is continuing following a short break at the end of last year. In order to accelerate the launch of facilities, the planning is being done concurrently, in line with an order from Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev.
The Kyrgyz government suspended Altynken's operations in October 2012 due to clashes between local residents and workers from China, but work was resumed at the beginning of this year.
Shakirov said construction is now moving ahead at a very rapid pace, and there have not been any serious complaints from oversight agencies that could affect the construction schedule. The Chinese company is fully financing the project.
"The only thing is that Altynken inflated the cost of building the tailings dump. The company has been instructed to conduct a new calculation for construction of this facility," Shakirov said.
The Taldy-Bulak Levoberezhny deposit, which was discovered in the Soviet era, had reserves estimated at 100 tonnes of gold as of December 2010.
In 1995-2006, Kyrgyzstan tried unsuccessfully to attract foreign investors to jointly implement the project. In the spring of 2006, Kyrgyzaltyn and Kazakhstan's Summer Gold signed an agreement to jointly develop the deposit and form the joint venture Altynken, in which Kyrgyzstan held a 40% stake and the Kazakh company owned 60%.
However, in 2010 the Kazakh investor was accused of failing to meet the terms of the agreement due to lack of financing and the slow pace of construction. Following negotiations, a new agreement was signed in early 2011 extending the deadline for launching the mine to early 2014, and Summer Gold paid a fine of $5.2 million.
In September 2011, the Kazakh investor sold its stake in the project to China's Superb Pacific Ltd. A number of sources said the deal was worth $66 million. After the assets changed hands, Altynken began building the infrastructure.