Kazakhstan’s Aluminium of Kazakhstan, part of the Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), is set to commence operations at the Taunsor bauxite deposit located in the Kamystinsky district of the Kostanay region. This announcement follows public hearings held at the end of September, as reported by Qazba.kz. The planned activities include preparatory work on several sections of the deposit, specifically sections 18 (ore body 1), 18 (ore body 8), 19, 20 (ore body 1), and 25 (ore body 2). These activities will involve hydrogeological studies to assess the engineering and hydrogeological conditions of the areas, the construction of access roads, and the removal of the fertile layer from the future sites of operations.
Mining operations at section 18, ore body 1, are scheduled to begin in 2028 and will continue for nine years, with a maximum production capacity of 500,000 tonnes of ore per year. Concurrently, mining at section 19 is set to start in the same year, with a capacity of up to 1.5 million tonnes per year, also lasting nine years. Additionally, bauxite extraction at section 18, ore body 8, is anticipated to commence in 2031, with a similar nine-year duration and a capacity of 500,000 tonnes annually.
The development of section 25 is projected to start in 2035 and will last for 11 years, maintaining a maximum production capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year. Mining at section 20 is expected to begin in 2037, with a ten-year development period and a maximum capacity of 529,000 tonnes per year. The mining operations will be conducted by the Krasnooktabrsk Bauxite Mine (KBRU), a subsidiary of Aluminium of Kazakhstan, which is currently extracting resources from the Krasnooktabrsk bauxite deposit located 70-90 km north of Taunsor.
The bauxite extracted from the Kostanay region will be processed at the Pavlodar Aluminium Plant (PAP), also part of ERG, where it will be converted into alumina for export or further processed into aluminium at the Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant (KEP), also under ERG. Notably, mining activities at the Taunsor deposit have not previously taken place and are currently in the design phase. The site is located far from populated areas, with the nearest village, Druzhba, situated 18 km away, ensuring minimal negative impact on local communities.
In 2005, Aluminium of Kazakhstan signed a contract with the government to explore the Taunsor deposit, which included geological surveys of various ore bodies. The initial project for geological exploration was drafted in 2006; however, due to part of the deposit being located within a nature reserve, the exploration programme was revised to focus only on sections outside the reserve in the northeastern part of the Taunsor deposit.
According to a 2016 state commission protocol, the balance reserves of bauxite in ore sections 18, 19, 20, and 25 were approved at 9,528.8 thousand tonnes, with 9,510.4 thousand tonnes classified as category C1 and 18.4 thousand tonnes as category C2. Additionally, the deposit’s unaccounted reserves were calculated at 2,915.7 thousand tonnes. The shareholders of the Eurasian Resources Group include Samruk-Kazyna (40% stake), Shakhmurat Mutalip (39.3%), and the heirs of Alidjan Ibragimov (20.7%). The founders of ERG, Aliidjan Ibragimov, Alexander Mashkevich, and Patokh Shodiyev, were instrumental in establishing the company and have been significant figures in Kazakhstan’s mining sector.
