General Base Minerals LLP is planning geological exploration across an 11 square kilometre licence area in Abai Region of Kazakhstan, within the boundaries of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Safety Zone — a designated area established on the former Soviet nuclear test site to facilitate gradual remediation and the return of contaminated land to productive use.
The exploration area is located approximately 50 kilometres from the village of Sarzhal. The company received its geological exploration licence in February 2026 and plans to begin fieldwork this year, with the full project to be completed by 2031.
The programme is designed to confirm the presence of gold mineralisation across five blocks of the Shan area, which forms part of the Boko-Vasilyevskoye gold ore field. Resources will be estimated across three standard categories: Inferred, Indicated and Measured. Planned drilling exceeds 20,000 linear metres, complemented by geophysical and geochemical surveys, mapping boreholes and surface excavation works including more than 20 trenches totalling 6,000 linear metres.
The Semipalatinsk Nuclear Safety Zone, established on the site of the former Soviet nuclear weapons test polygon where more than 450 nuclear tests were conducted between 1949 and 1989, has been progressively opened to regulated economic activity including mining exploration as remediation work advances.
