[REPORT] North Kazakhstan to Open Gold Mine in 2015

The Yesil District of North Kazakhstan has begun to develop its Aulie gold deposit, according to a report from Novosti-Kazakhstan.

Geologists discovered gold in an area near the village of Bulak.  The Yesil District’s territory includes a population of 180,000 people and the region is believed to house a number of significant deposits of gold, silver, diamond, titanium, non-ferrous, rare metals and coal.

“It is no coincidence that the geologists started searching for gold in this particular area. It has been known that there were precious metals in the area since the 1940s,” an Akimat (municipal authorities) representative said in a statement.

“Construction of the mining and metallurgical plant and the necessary infrastructure will start by the end of 2014.  In 2015, the company will reach its full production capacity.  The production volumes will reach 130,000 tons of ore in 2014 to 600,000 tons in 2018,” the regional administration said.

According to preliminary estimates, the gold deposit amounts to 3 tons with the depth of formation ranging from 6 to 12 meters.  Aulie Gold Mining, a project company of Russian Mining Solutions, will perform the mining.  The project was included in the Industrialization Map of the North Kazakhstan region. 

The project’s design lifetime is until 2021, but it may be extended as further exploration associated with mining will be performed and additional gold deposits may be discovered.  The cost of the project is estimated at $15 million and it is projected to create 265 new jobs.

Additionally, the fine-grained sand found in placers is being studied to identify content of any valuable satellite resources.  Geologists have specifically recommended searching for titanium and zirconium components.

Kazakhstan ranks second only to Russia among the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States in its quantity of mineral production.  Earlier this year, the country announced new mining laws, removing many of the former bureaucratic procedures and roadblocks to obtaining geographical information.  Since then, Kazakhstan’s economy—heavily dependent on the production of minerals—has grown, as foreign investors have been increasingly attracted to its extraction industries. 

The World Bank has listed Kazakhstan among the 20 most attractive countries for investment.   With a focus on the export of raw materials and base metals, less than 20 percent of the country’s mineral production is sold on the domestic market.