Kazakhstan’s KM Gold is set to launch its own gold processing plant (ZIF) at the Kokpar deposit in the Zhambyl region by 2026, with a capacity to process up to 12,000 tonnes of ore per month, according to the company’s annual report. The firm has completed initial surveys at Kokpar, estimating P1 category gold reserves of over 30 tonnes, with an average grade of 10 grams per tonne, and some samples exceeding 200 g/t.
In a second phase planned for 2027, KM Gold aims to establish a full-cycle ZIF with increased ore reserves. Geologists estimate the total potential of the group of deposits (P1+P2 categories) at 650 tonnes, with prospects for growth to 800 tonnes through new options. The company’s strategy includes further increasing its forecasted reserves through mergers and acquisitions, as well as acquiring new assets.
The doré bars produced at the plant will be sent to the Tau-Ken Altyn refining plant in Astana, with the refined precious metals expected to be sold to the National Bank of Kazakhstan to bolster the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves.
Simultaneously, subsidiaries Mynaral Gold and Mynaral Resources are conducting geological exploration over an area of 170 square kilometres within the Mynaral ore field, located on the site of the former Soviet testing ground at Sary-Shagan. In the Aktobe area, specialists have identified 43 promising gold and silver occurrences, discovering a rich ore horizon with an average precious metal content exceeding 200 g/t at depths of up to 100 metres.
Despite the asset being fully devalued in 2024 due to the expiration of the exploration contract, a two-year extension was granted in 2025, which included an approved work programme for geological exploration with planned investments of 169,047 million tenge. The scaling of projects has significantly improved the company’s balance sheet, with total assets growing by 66.8% from 6.9 billion to 11.5 billion tenge in 2025.
Although the company remains unprofitable, with accumulated losses from previous years amounting to 6.1 billion tenge, operational results have improved markedly. The annual operating loss decreased from 1.06 billion tenge in 2024 to 243 million tenge in 2025, while the operational cash flow turned positive, reaching 5.57 billion tenge, compared to a negative value of 2.46 billion tenge the previous year.
As of the end of 2025, the company’s share capital consists of 32,002,000 ordinary shares. The ownership structure is as follows: 57.81% (18.5 million shares) is controlled by Tau-Ken SN, owned by businessman Yerbol Abdykalykov. Orient Gold holds 15.3% (4.89 million shares), while 9.51% (3.03 million shares) is owned by the Almaty-based scientific and production enterprise Asia Engineering, with the remaining 17.38% (5.56 million shares) held by various minority shareholders, each owning less than 5%.
