Kazakhstan lifts moratorium on new mining licenses
ASTANA. April 19 (Interfax) - Starting this year, Kazakhstan is resuming the issuance of licenses for exploration and extraction of solid minerals through a competitive bidding process, Kazakh Industry and New Technologies Minister Aset Isekeshev said at the fourth mining forum MINEX on Thursday in Astana.
"In May we will start accepting bids from potential investors for solid minerals licenses. Winners will be announced this year," he said.
"We are interested in investments and new technologies. To this end, we are determined to take every effort to facilitate the development of the mining sector. We hope the industry will see a lot of new projects this year," Isekeshev said.
As reported, Kazakhstan imposed a moratorium on issuing mineral resource licenses in 2008.
In January 2013, the moratorium was lifted on the Kazakh president's instruction.
