JSC Bast plans to build a processing plant with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons of ore at the Maksut copper-nickel ore deposit, located in the Abay region. The subsoil user published the work plan on the Unified Environmental Portal of Kazakhstan for consideration by environmentalists and the public.
After the commissioning of the new enrichment plant, the activities of the existing processing plant with a significantly smaller capacity of 400 thousand tons will be stopped, but the building will not be dismantled. Construction and installation work is expected to begin in 2024. The facility will be put into operation in 2026. The deposit’s reserves should be enough for 15 years of production.
According to the project documentation, crushed ore will be crushed in two parallel sections with a capacity of 174.4 t/hour. Flotation enrichment is planned to be carried out in vat-type pneumomechanical machines. If previously Bast produced only copper concentrates, now it will also produce nickel concentrates.
Let us remind you: last year the company applied to the Development Bank of Kazakhstan. In the last couple of years, Bast has been in the red in terms of financial indicators. To take the development of Maksut to a new level, the subsoil user planned to introduce a new metal extraction technology.
