Chinese mining giant Zijin Gold International has reported that its newly acquired Raygorodok gold mine in Kazakhstan’s Akmola Region generated approximately $190 million in revenue and $120 million in net profit in the final quarter of 2025 alone — recouping roughly a tenth of the approximately $1 billion acquisition price within just three months of completing the purchase.
The mine, acquired from Kazakh businessman Bulat Utemuratov and formally transferred in October 2025, produced 1.2 tonnes of gold under Zijin’s ownership last year, though the company reported selling 1.3 tonnes from the Kazakhstani operation during the same period. Total gold output at Raygorodok for the full year 2025 reached 6.5 tonnes in doré form — including 6.1 tonnes from the main processing plant and 349 kilograms from heap leaching operations — meaning approximately 5.3 tonnes were attributable to the previous shareholder before the deal closed.
Zijin reported all-in sustaining costs of approximately $1,249 per ounce following the acquisition, and said the post-acquisition transition had proceeded smoothly, with improvements in strip ratios, recovery rates and equipment utilisation. The results were aided by the record gold price rally that marked the final months of 2025.
The company’s most significant disclosure concerns its expansion ambitions. Zijin plans to increase annual ore processing capacity from the current 6 million tonnes to 16 million tonnes, with an intermediate target of adding 10 million tonnes of annual processing capacity in the near term. That expansion is projected to lift annual gold production to approximately 11 tonnes — a level that would place Raygorodok close to the output of Kazakhstan’s leading gold producers, including Kazakhzinc, Altynalmas and Solidcore Resources, each of which produces more than 12 tonnes annually. Production guidance for 2026 is set at 6.4 tonnes. The mine’s remaining life is estimated at 16 years, with probable reserves of 84 tonnes of gold and measured and inferred resources potentially reaching 195 tonnes.
Beyond expanding existing operations, Zijin plans to invest in exploration across six licences it holds in the surrounding area. The company intends to conduct deep and peripheral drilling within the current mining zone to extend the mine’s operational life, and will carry out exploration at the Novodneprovske and Sharyk deposits within recently acquired licence areas to assess their boundaries and resource potential.
