The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development (MIID) announced an auction on May 26 for the granting of subsoil use rights for the extraction of solid minerals, inbusiness.kz reports . This was reported on the website of the department.
According to the industry government agency, 28 lots will be put up for auction. Some of them have declared reserves for the extraction of minerals such as gold, silver, quartzites, barite, coal, and phosphorites. Applications for participation in the auction will be accepted from February 1 to March 24. It is expected that the auction will take place in the building of the ministry or online. The non-refundable fee for participation in the auction is 40 MCI. In case of victory, the participant will need to pay a signature bonus for receiving the deposit for use, its starting cost is set at 500 MCI.
As you know, the economic attractiveness of any deposit of solid minerals usually depends not only on its balance reserves and content, but also on such important factors as the availability of roads, a railway line, electricity networks, land rights around it, water resources in its region. , the presence of social and environmental risks, and whether it will be mined open pit or underground.
If we analyze the list of exhibited objects from the point of view of the layman, then gold-bearing areas may be of probable interest. True, the gold deposits put up for auction are microscopic and, rather, can be called artisanal in scale. There are five such small deposits with gold content – Kenespai, Sulushoky in the Karaganda region, Zhedeusu in the East Kazakhstan region, Tursyn-Tor, Tasty-Bien in the Zhetysu region. Their approved reserves vary in the range of 72-342 kg if their estimated resources are not taken into account.
Other outstanding mining rights include bauxite deposits in the Kostanay region – plot No. 3 of the Varvarinskoye deposit, as well as the northern and eastern parts of the Severnoye deposit – their balance reserves together may exceed 4 million tons. If there is a demand for them, then, perhaps, from a Kazakh aluminum producer. By the way, the Varvarinskoye bauxite deposit is located just 10 km from the gold deposit of the same name of the international company Polymetal.
The small deposit of Tiesai phosphorites for 5.5 million tons in the Zhambyl region, it seems, can be claimed by companies engaged in the production of phosphorus-containing products in this region. In addition, the Narkyzyl barite deposit is offered for auction from this area, but its proven reserves of 18 thousand tons are quite small compared to other barite deposits in the country.
The auction will also offer a second section of the Tobolskoye titanium-zirconium deposit with estimated titanium reserves of more than 400,000 tons. It can be assumed that investors from Russia, where there is a shortage of titanium raw materials, may show interest in it. It is curious that Tobolskoye was put up for an open competition of investment programs for obtaining the right to subsoil use back in 2001.
Against the background of the degradation of the country’s heating systems, railway logistics and rising gas prices, coal deposits put up for auction may not be superfluous. Among them is the Karerny site of the Priozernoye brown coal deposit with estimated reserves of almost 312 million tons from the Kostanay region. From the same region, the Zhanyspai coal deposit with estimated reserves of 353 million tons will be offered for sale under the hammer. In addition, the Bogembai coal deposit in the Akmola region with estimated reserves of more than 161 million tons is put up for auction.
Several coal plots are offered for sale at the Kendyrlykskoye field in the East Kazakhstan region – Karaungur with almost 5 million tons of estimated reserves, a Coal field of 10 million tons on the balance sheet, and investors can also buy the First coal-shale field site with a projected 11 million tons of coal.
In correspondence with an inbusiness.kz correspondent, a representative of the mining industry noted that the development of the Kenderlyk oil shale deposit requires new technologies for the country to explore shale oil and gas or oil shale for the shale chemical industry, which is not available in Kazakhstan.
According to the expert, the most interesting object put up for auction is the Khairuz wollastonite deposit. He wonders why it was divided into three lots or lots. According to information found on the Internet, wollastonite is a mineral that is widely used in the paint and varnish industry, ceramics, spacecraft lining, automotive, so innovative production will be needed to market it.
The expert was surprised by the fact that the Belogorsk deposit of rare metals in East Kazakhstan was put up for auction, where the proven reserves of beryllium are declared at the level of 1358 tons, and tin – 617 tons.
“The Belogorskoye deposit is on the list. Mined by the mine of the same name. Practically worked out underground until 1993. The processing plant has been dismantled. Where such a large number of stocks on the list came from is a question. No new exploration work was carried out, ”the specialist notes.
As you know, beryllium products are produced in Ust-Kamenogorsk at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMZ) of Kazatomprom. Its production volume in 2021 was 1402 tons on the back of increased demand, according to the annual report . The national company’s revenue from this product segment during this period reached 26.1 billion tenge.
According to the website atomicexpert.com, the global market for beryllium is 300 tons, and its turnover reaches $2 billion. Most of the beryllium market was in the United States, Kazakhstan provided about 20%.