Solidcore Resources chief executive Vitaly Nesis is maintaining a deliberately conservative stance on gold prices at a moment when most market participants are optimistic, telling Forbes Kazakhstan he expects a significant price decline within three years and budgeting accordingly — while simultaneously planning the most ambitious expansion programme in the company’s history.
“I personally expect a meaningful price decline on a three-year horizon,” Nesis said. “As a company, we are budgeting this year at $4,000 per ounce and conducting long-term mine planning at $3,000. This reflects our corporate views. We are optimists, but we consider the current level excessive.”
Against that cautious macro backdrop, Solidcore has set three strategic priorities: vertical integration through the launch of the Ertis Hydrometallurgical Plant in Pavlodar, geographic diversification beyond Kazakhstan, and growth of the mineral resource base. The Pavlodar plant is the most critical near-term project, as it addresses what Nesis describes as the company’s fundamental structural defect — dependence on a tolling contract with a Russian enterprise for processing concentrate. Solidcore is gradually reducing this exposure through China and Kazakhmys, but Nesis said the risk will only be eliminated once EGMK is commissioned. “This is a fundamental defect in the current commercial structure. We live with it, but it is finite.”
On geographic diversification, Nesis identified Oman as the priority market, with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan also under active evaluation. He said the company plans to complete at least one asset acquisition outside Kazakhstan in 2026. Solidcore is 29.7% owned by Omani company Maaden International Investment, making the Middle East connection structurally logical.
At Bakyrchik — the company’s flagship asset and one of Kazakhstan’s largest gold deposits — underground mine development is the next major transition. Design work is completing this year, with underground development beginning in 2026. Nesis acknowledged that high capital expenditure during underground construction may cause production to dip temporarily in 2028, but the company is targeting significantly higher output by 2035 as the new mine reaches full capacity. The company also has more than 20 exploration projects and 30 kilometres of drilling planned for 2026, with the objective of replacing depleted reserves tonne-for-tonne with new resource additions. In Kazakhstan, the company is also exploring acquisition of additional assets including an increased stake in the Beshoku project, building on last year’s acquisition of a tin stake at Syrymbet.
On technology, Nesis claimed industry leadership in digitalisation, singling out Bakyrchik’s fleet management system as a fully algorithmised AI solution that dispatches trucks and excavators without human involvement. “This is not visualisation or an advisor. This is artificial intelligence that gives instructions to people. The results are very impressive both in productivity gains and cost reduction.” The system is planned for rollout across new company assets. Processing plants use machine vision and optimisation software for mill loading and flotation management.
Despite Solidcore shares being the most liquid on the Astana International Exchange, Nesis said he remains unsatisfied with market liquidity and considers the exchange’s potential unrealised. He also addressed the legacy issue of shares blocked in Euroclear following EU sanctions on Russia’s National Settlement Depository in 2022, noting that the company’s subsequent delisting from Moscow and multi-stage AIX share exchange successfully migrated more than 90% of affected shares, though some shareholders were unable to participate due to their own sanctions constraints.
