With more than 65% of Kazakhstan’s territory still geologically underexplored and some 3,000 active exploration licences in need of capital, the Astana International Financial Centre has launched a dedicated platform to bridge the structural gap between early-stage mineral projects and the investors willing to fund them — a gap that has long kept promising licences stranded at the riskiest point in the mining cycle.
The Junior Mining Platform, announced ahead of the MINEX Kazakhstan 2026 forum, addresses what AIFC chief product officer Zhanbolat Kakishev described as the sector’s defining problem: a lack of structured access to capital at the exploration stage. Many projects stall precisely because they cannot yet demonstrate reserve confirmation under internationally recognised standards — JORC or KAZRC — which institutional investors typically require before committing funds. The platform is designed to move projects through that gap by pre-screening and curating them according to industry criteria, then presenting the resulting pipeline to both domestic and international investors.
The timing is deliberate. Global demand for critical minerals is accelerating, and the world’s capital requirement for the extractive sector is estimated to reach $2.1 trillion by 2050. Kazakhstan, whose mining sector generated 12.1% of GDP and approximately 33% of total exports in 2024, is positioned to capture a meaningful share of that investment flow — but only if early-stage projects can access financing before competitors in other jurisdictions do. Mining and metallurgy currently account for 17%, or roughly $3 billion, of Kazakhstan’s total foreign direct investment, a figure that experts say should rise significantly if exploration-stage barriers are lowered.
To oversee the platform’s development, the AIFC has established a Mining Sector Expert Council drawing on senior figures from across the industry, including the chairmen of Tau-Ken Samruk and the National Geological Survey, the deputy chief executive of Solidcore Resources, the founder of Aurora Minerals Group and the chief executive of Arras Minerals Corp. The council’s mandate is to develop modern financial instruments suited to junior mining — including royalties, streaming agreements and earn-in structures — that can create a replicable and transparent model for connecting licence holders with capital providers.
Junior companies wishing to apply to the platform can find selection criteria and submission details on the AIFC’s official website.
