The United States intends to deepen its critical minerals partnership with Kazakhstan, with the two countries moving from diplomatic agreements to concrete industrial projects, US Ambassador to Kazakhstan Julie Stufft told the MINEX mining and geology forum in Astana.
“Kazakhstan is a key player in the global market and an important partner for the United States,” Stufft said, pointing to the country’s role as a producer of multiple strategic minerals and its growing significance in global supply chains. She recalled that in November 2025, during President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit to the United States, the two countries signed a memorandum of cooperation on critical minerals. In February 2026, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister Yermek Kosherbayev attended the first critical minerals ministerial conference in Washington, where he outlined Kazakhstan’s mineral potential and the country’s readiness to contribute to reliable and resilient global supply chains.
Stufft emphasised that Kazakhstan retains full sovereignty over how it works with and sells its critical minerals, and that the US respects the country’s multi-vector approach to bilateral and multilateral engagements in the sector. “Kazakhstan independently chooses how to work and how to sell its critical minerals. The US is pleased to be Kazakhstan’s partner,” she said.
On the practical side, the US Geological Survey is actively working with its Kazakhstani counterpart, and American company representatives make regular visits to Kazakhstan to expand industrial cooperation. A concrete example of the partnership advancing to project level came this year, when Kazakhstan’s national mining company Tau-Ken Samruk and US investment company Cove Capital signed documents on a project envisaging deep processing of tungsten at the North Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits in Karaganda Region — a deal Stufft described as an important step in strengthening Kazakhstan’s position in the global critical minerals supply chain.
