Russian State Commission assesses large bauxite deposit in Kazakhstan

CHELYABINSK. March 22 (Interfax) - Russian experts, commissioned by the GKZ, the State Commission for Mineral Reserves, have for the first time made an assessment of the reserves of two deposits in foreign countries, namely Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, with the results submitted to Rosnedra, Deputy Head of Monitoring, Analysis and Methodology of the GKZ Evgeny Persiyanov said .

According to Persiyanov's information, which he announced during the Mining Industry of Russia and the CIS: Construction and Modernization conference on Wednesday in Chelyabinsk, the Koktal group of bauxite deposits was assessed in Kazakhstan. The experts came to the conclusion that there might be 130-150 million tonnes of the industrially promising raw material resource there, and the group of deposits belongs to the category of large reserves in terms of quantity.

The second site evaluated was the Chorraga gold deposit, part of the Buzinovsky ore field, in Tajikistan. The site is considered small in terms of gold and antimony reserves. The expert assessment of forecasted resources in categories P2 + P3 is 50 tonnes of gold, which still allows us to consider the ore field as a promising site for the development of the mineral resource base of the Republic of Tajikistan.

Representatives of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan had applied to the GKZ for help in the expert assessment, Persiyanov said.

"For these sites, the reserves were previously calculated, but this was done in Soviet times. The assessments supplied at that time do not quite meet modern requirements," Persiyanov told Interfax on the sidelines of the conference.

The Koktal group of bauxite deposits was evaluated with the prospect of further attracting investments, and the site in Tajikistan was considered primarily for the purpose of interaction between the state geological structures of the Russia and Tajikistan.