A Canadian company, Arras Minerals, is set to initiate active drilling in the first half of 2025 to locate copper and gold deposits in the Pavlodar region, according to the company’s press service.
Arras Minerals has announced that it conducted extensive geological exploration in 2024 across an area of 1,700 square kilometres near its Beskauga, Elemes, and Tau projects, which are situated near Ekibastuz. During this fieldwork, the company drilled 435 holes and collected 35,000 soil samples. The exploration identified promising areas for drilling, which are scheduled to commence in 2025.
“It is excellent to see the significant progress the Arras-Teck Exploration alliance has made in exploring this promising and underexplored area. We plan to start drilling on several priority copper targets, which have not been explored previously and are under shallow cover, in the first half of 2025,” stated CEO Tim Barry.
The surveys were carried out at two sites. The first site, covering an area of 1,300 square kilometres, is located 56 kilometres northwest of Ekibastuz and includes the Bozshakol mine of KAZ Minerals. The second site, situated 90 kilometres southeast of Ekibastuz, is divided into the Akkuduk and Norgubek projects.
Arras holds the third-largest copper and gold mining licence portfolio in Kazakhstan, following Rio Tinto and Fortescue. In December 2023, the company entered into an agreement with another Canadian firm, Teck Resources Limited, under which TRL will finance Arras’ $5 million exploration programme for 2024-2025. Teck also holds a 10% stake in the Beskauga project.
In late September, Arras Minerals President Darren Klink admitted in an interview with Kitco Mining at the Precious Metals Summit in Canada that he had little knowledge of Kazakhstan three years ago but now considers the country one of the easiest places he has worked in over the last 20 years.
“This is really a nation that has undergone significant changes even in the last five or six years. They have done an excellent job of reforming all aspects of business, but in terms of mining, they have essentially adopted the Western Australian mining code, incorporating good elements from Ontario and Quebec. Now, the major mining companies are starting to invest. From my perspective, it has been nothing but positive surprises, and from a jurisdictional standpoint, it is probably one of the most comfortable places I have worked in the last 20 years,” Klink said.
