On Monday, January 23, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Roman Sklyar, held a meeting to discuss the revision of deposits of solid minerals (SRM) and hydrocarbons. The government is currently working on revising contracts and licenses issued to subsoil users. In 2022, 115 contracts and 198 licenses for solid minerals were terminated, as well as 12 contracts for hydrocarbon raw materials. As a result, deposits of gold, coal, iron, copper, bauxite, polymetals, etc. were returned to the state fund. These deposits are now put up for auction for transfer to strategic investors. At the auctions held in 2022, a subscription bonus of 26 billion tenge was paid to the country‘s budget and investments in geological exploration for hydrocarbon raw materials were announced for more than 50 billion tenge. All interested investors can take part in the auction for the right to subsoil use. Information about the holding of auctions is mandatory placed in the republican printed publications and on the Internet resources of state bodies. Penalties are also applied to subsoil users who violate financial obligations.
In 2022, a penalty in the amount of 331 million tenge on solid minerals was collected to the state revenue, as well as a debt of 1.8 billion tenge on nine contracts in the field of hydrocarbon raw materials was repaid. The meeting held by Roman Sklyar is part of the government‘s efforts to ensure that subsoil users comply with their financial obligations and that deposits are returned to the state fund. This will help ensure that strategic investors can access these resources and make investments that will benefit Kazakhstan‘s economy.