RG Gold, the Akmola Region gold producer acquired by China’s Zijin Gold International from Bulat Utemuratov in 2025, has disclosed a dispute with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction over the renewal of exploration licences covering additional territories adjacent to its main Raygorodok operation, according to the company’s 2025 financial statements.
The company applied to the Ministry of Industry in 2024 for a three-year extension of geological exploration licences. The application received approval for consideration on 30 December 2024, and documents were submitted to the ministry’s Working Group on 11 August 2025. However, a protocol dated 10 December 2025 issued objections that RG Gold says it does not agree with. The company resubmitted its documents on 25 December 2025, and a further Working Group meeting was still pending at the time the financial statements were finalised in early March 2026.
The underlying subsoil use contract, valid until 2040, grants RG Gold rights over the Novodneprovskaya contract territory, which encompasses two ore fields — Novodneprovskoe and Raygorodskoye — the latter hosting the North and South Raygorodok deposits that form the core of the company’s production base, along with the Sharyk prospective area and several exploration zones. Reserve estimates for the main deposits were most recently revised and approved under the KAZRC code in 2025 on the basis of an updated geological model. The company also holds six exploration licences on nearby territories issued in 2020 for six years, which under Kazakhstan’s Subsoil Code can be extended for a further four years.
The disclosure comes as Zijin presses ahead with ambitious expansion plans at the site. Gold production in doré form reached 6.5 tonnes in 2025, with 1.2 tonnes attributed to the new Chinese owner following the October acquisition. RG Gold’s profit for the reporting period doubled to 158 billion tenge on the back of record gold prices, with approximately $120 million falling to Zijin’s account. Production guidance for 2026 is set at 6.4 tonnes, with a medium-term target of approximately 11 tonnes annually once processing capacity is expanded by 10 million tonnes per year.
The company’s charitable expenditure drew attention in the financial statements. RG Gold spent 18.16 billion tenge sponsoring the Bulat Utemuratov Foundation for social projects, 1.2 billion tenge on Kazakhstani tennis and the ATP-250 Almaty Open tournament, and just 22 million tenge on landscaping improvements in Shchuchinsk — the town closest to the mine in Burabai District.
