Kazakhstan increases gold and copper reserves following exploration, plans to expand ore minerals exploration
ASTANA. Nov 11 (Interfax) - Geological exploration in Kazakhstan has increased its gold, copper, manganese, and phosphorite reserves, with plans to expand exploration for ore minerals in the coming years, Kazakh Deputy Industry and Construction Minister Iran Sharkan said at a government meeting.
He said that as a result of recent exploration work, five new deposits have been registered - Kok-Zhon (Bolattobe Block), Altyn-Shoko, Samombet, Studenchesky, and Takyr-Kaldzhir.
"The increase in reserves amounted to about 98 tonnes of gold, 36,000 tonnes of copper, 11 million tonnes of manganese and more than 1.3 million tonnes of phosphorites," the deputy minister said.
"Work is underway to expand the country's geological and geophysical coverage to 2.2 million square kilometers by 2026. As of today, 2.14 million square kilometers have been surveyed, and by the end of the year this figure will reach 2.38 million square kilometers. From 2026 to 2028, as much as 100,000 square kilometers will be surveyed, and thereafter, 30,000 square kilometers annually," Sharkan said.
The next phase will focus on more detailed mapping at a scale of 1:50,000, which will allow for faster identification of promising areas and improve exploration efficiency.
Sharkan said new geological survey standards have been approved to accelerate research, and 240 million tenge has been allocated from the government reserve to prepare 20 project design documents. The work is being carried out by a consortium that includes the National Geological Service, the Satpayev Institute of Geology and leading industry experts.
Aerogeophysical, geochemical and digital technologies will be employed during the surveys, with the participation of Tau-Ken Samruk.
"Funding for next year has been preliminarily approved - 44.4 billion tenge ($84.8 million) for comprehensive geological and geophysical surveys, seismic exploration and the development of industry infrastructure," Sharkan said.
Kazakhstan mined 161 million tonnes of copper ore and 130.3 tonnes of gold in 2024.
According to the draft environmental impact assessment, the Kok-Zhon deposit is part of the Malokaratau phosphorite basin. The license area is 12.5 square kilometers. Previously, the Bolattobe area was considered to have no phosphorite layer due to facies wedge-out.
According to open source data, the Altyn-Shoko ferromanganese deposit is located in the Ulytau region. The Samombet ore field, with copper reserves, is in the Karaganda region, 65 km southwest of Karkaralinsk and 150 km southeast of Karaganda. The Studencheskoye gold deposit is in the Zhanaarka district of the Karaganda region and has C1 gold reserves of 286 kg and an average copper grade of 1.2 grams per tonne. Takyr-Kaldzhir is an Eocene gold-bearing quartz gravel deposit in the East Kazakhstan region, with estimated gold resources of 380 tonnes.
