Region: Kazakhstan

A regular meeting of the Coordination Council on coal exchange trading was held

A meeting of the Coordination Council was held at the site of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

During the meeting, business games were held at 3 commodity exchanges (JSC Caspian Commodity Exchange, JSC Commodity Exchange Eurasian Trading System, JSC Commodity Exchange Modern Trading Solutions).

Business games simulated trading in municipal coal from six sellers (Karazhyra JSC, Maikuben-West LLP, Razrez Kuznetsky LLP, Mining Company SatKomir JSC, Shubarkol Komir JSC and Shubarkol Premium JSC ).

Regional operators participated in business games on a regional basis, depending on regional needs.

The meeting was attended by representatives of local executive bodies, government agencies and private businesses (regional operators and coal companies and commodity exchanges).

Based on the results of the Coordination Council, recommendations were made on establishing the maximum amounts of membership fees and the exchange commission, approving trading instruments for municipal coal for each region, forming the annual coal demand for 2024 broken down by month, etc.

Let us recall that by Order of the Ministry of Trade and Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 6, 2023 No. 420-НК, changes were made to the Rules of exchange trading in the coal section regarding the sale of coal only to regional operators included in the information of the Ministry of Industry and Construction, in the context of each region in order to ensure uniform meet regional needs.

The rules come into force on December 22, 2023.

To ensure transparency of pricing in the coal market in order to prevent sharp price increases, sellers will ensure the sale of municipal coal through the commodity exchange in the following order:

50% of the volume is sold at spot trading;

50% of the volume is sold subject to monthly payment and delivery for a period of 6 to 12 months.

December 21, 2023
Seequent strengthens its presence in Central Asia and opens a regional hub in Kazakhstan

Alocal team of specialists will work to implement leading exploration software for mining, energy, infrastructure and environmental projects.

Seequent , Bentley’s subsurface exploration and modeling division, has announced an expansion of its presence in Central Asia. The company opens a regional hub in Kazakhstan, represented by a team of local specialists. Seequent thus confirms its commitment to providing advanced exploration software solutions to the rapidly growing local market and throughout Central Asia.

News of the regional hub was announced last week at the Seequent event in Almaty, where the company’s partners and clients, as well as leading industry representatives, gathered. Seequent has been supporting the Central Asian business community since 2011. The region’s largest companies are already using Seequent software for subsurface modeling, data analysis, management and collaboration. This allows for a better understanding of the underground component for the mining and energy industries, as well as civil infrastructure and environmental projects.

(From left to right) Colin Hay, Inna Shalovenkova, Alexander Frolov, Head of Client Solutions Group, Lada Khimanych, Commercial Support, and Igor Danilov, Key Account Manager at Seequent. Image courtesy of Seequent.

Colin Hay, Executive Vice President EMEA, said: “ Expanding Seequent’s presence in Central Asia is an important step in our global strategy. Kazakhstan, located in the heart of the region, was an ideal choice for a regional hub. Kazakhstan’s robust economy, abundant metal reserves, prime location and focus on attracting foreign investment make it stand out as a key market for Seequent solutions.”

He further added: “ We see growing demand for our products as they fully meet the needs of the local industry, which is looking for digital innovation to improve operational efficiency. We intend to continue to expand our team as we ramp up our operations in Central Asia .”

Seequent offers software solutions for professionals including geologists, geophysicists, geochemists, geotechnical and geomechanical engineers, hydrogeologists, ecologists, as well as builders, structural designers, quarries and underground mine workers. The company’s products include leading 3D implicit geological modeling solutions Leapfrog and Oasis montaj, which have become the industry standard for working with geophysical data.

“ Seequent products help make these professionals’ jobs easier, more efficient, and enable them to share data with colleagues anywhere in the world ,” says Hay.

December 20, 2023
ArcelorMittal transferred 16 billion tenge to the Kazakhstan Khalkyn fund
The public fund “Kazakhstan Khalkyna” received a charitable contribution in the amount of 16 billion tenge from the ArcelorMittal company, the press service of the fund reports.

The funds received will be used by the fund to implement charitable projects and programs in the field of education and healthcare that will benefit the population of the Karaganda region.

At least fifty percent (50%) of the contribution amount will be allocated to projects implemented in Temirtau or significantly related to this city.

Charitable programs and projects will be aimed at:
- improving secondary education institutions and supporting students in higher education through scholarships;
- improving STEM education in the region;
- provision of medicines to patients with orphan (rare) diseases;
- providing healthcare institutions with advanced medical equipment and access to the services of medical experts.
In total, since its creation, the fund has received 158.8 billion tenge (as of December 1, 2023) from the largest companies, private charitable foundations and organizations, philanthropists and individuals.

It is noted that for almost two years of activity, the fund initiated the implementation of charitable projects and programs in the Karaganda region for a total amount of 13.96 billion tenge. These include providing patients with orphan diseases with medications, creating flagship schools, providing educational grants to students from socially vulnerable segments of the population, equipping medical organizations with modern equipment, creating rehabilitation centers, providing innovative prosthetics, equipping special schools, opening children’s gyms in villages and others .
December 20, 2023
Kazatomprom shares fell by 6.64% on the London Stock Exchange

Shares of Kazatomprom fell by 6.64% at the end of trading in London, likely due to a delayed response to the ban on Russian uranium supplies to the United States. Bizmedia.kz reports this .

In addition, according to market participants, the drop is due to the fact that Kazatomprom was included on December 15 in the Sprott Junior Uranium Miners ETF. Initially, its weight in the index was 10.8%, and in response to increased demand, the company’s shares rose in price.

However, Sprott Junior Uranium Miners and Nasdaq soon announced that the revision of the index composition was carried out with errors. Details are not specified.

The Kazakh company has close production ties with Russia. Especially in 2022, when Russian companies received the right to develop the largest uranium deposit in the world in the Turkestan region.

This happened after the acquisition of shares in the Stepnogorsk Mining and Chemical Combine from Russian billionaire Vasily Anisimov and Kazakh entrepreneur Yakov Klebanov (son of billionaire Alexander Klebanov).

December 20, 2023
Kazakhstan intends to export coal to Indonesia

The third round of negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement between member states of the Eurasian Economic Union and Indonesia ended in the city of Denpasar (Republic of Indonesia),reported at the Ministry of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan.

According to MIT, bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Indonesia is actively developing, and trade turnover for 10 months of this year amounted to 249 million US dollars, of which Kazakhstan’s exports to Indonesia account for 95.2 million US dollars.

Currently, we are seeing the emergence of new export items, such as coal, which were not previously supplied from Kazakhstan to Indonesia. In addition, traditionally the main items of Kazakhstan’s exports are ferrochrome, equipment for working with soil, transmission shafts, as well as other instruments and equipment,” said the press service of the Ministry of Trade.

As part of the third round of negotiations, the parties discussed the provisions of the text of the future agreement, and also continued further work on discussing tariff liberalization with the aim of mutually reducing import customs duties.

We have managed to make significant progress on all key issues of the future agreement. We are confident that this agreement will ensure a significant increase in mutual trade turnover between our countries, and will also create additional favorable conditions for domestic exporters,” said the MTI, whose experts took part in the negotiations.

On May 25, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during a speech at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Councilnoted that it is important to continue a systematic dialogue with integration associations and countries with which cooperation is of economic interest to us.

The Commission will have to quickly complete work on concluding agreements on a free trade zone with the United Arab Emirates, India, Egypt, Indonesia, and Israel. We should qualitatively strengthen interaction with the SCO, ASEAN, MERCOSUR and other international organizations. I think the interest in cooperation on the part of these organizations is mutual,” said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Recall that negotiations between the EAEU and Indonesia on concluding a free trade agreementbegan in May 2022.

December 19, 2023
An investment project worth 15.6 billion tenge was implemented by ERG at the Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant

At Kazakhstan electrolysis plant was put into operation after major repairs anode firing furnace. Major repairs of the furnace became one of the main activities of the investment program for the modernization and technical re-equipment of production. The cost of the project was 15.6 billion tenge.

Baked anodes play a vital role in aluminum production technology. And the largest anode production equipment at KEP is the anode firing furnace, consisting of 50 chambers and reaching more than 200 meters in length and more than 30 in width. The furnace repair project was developed by the German company Riedhammer, which also installed the equipment during the construction of the anode section. The work itself was carried out under the supervision of foreign specialists by the Kazakh company Stroymontazh.

Preparing for a major overhaul is a very responsible and lengthy process. To ensure that the work was carried out strictly according to schedule, by the time the furnace was stopped, all the necessary equipment, parts and materials had arrived at the warehouses. The kiln itself was completely stopped in August of this year, and repairs were carried out as soon as possible and completed two weeks ahead of schedule.

The modernization of the furnace was carried out taking into account the latest achievements of the global anode production industry. 14 thousand tons of refractory lining were dismantled and reinstalled using modern and high-quality materials produced in the Netherlands, India, and Germany. Four exhaust gas collectors were also replaced. The latest generation units are more reliable and can significantly improve the operation of the furnace. It is planned that the repair will allow firing up to 138.4 thousand tons of anodes per year. And after the implementation of the second stage of modernization – replacement of combustion and furnace equipment – it is planned to increase this figure to 153 thousand tons.

– This investment project is aimed not just at increasing the productivity of the enterprise, but at solving a whole range of problems, such as increasing the energy efficiency of production and reducing the level of environmental load on the environment. Simultaneously with the furnace repair, we carried out a major overhaul of gas treatment facilities, which will be able to continue to operate with an efficiency of 99.5 percent for the next ten years,” said Serik Shakhazhanov, General Director of ERG in Kazakhstan.

The Kazakhstan Electrolysis Plant plans to implement a project to increase production capacity by introducing 16 new electrolysers. Its implementation will increase production capacity by 14 thousand tons of primary aluminum per year. And a major overhaul of the roasting furnace will make it possible to supply future capacities with its own anodes.

December 19, 2023
Manganese Zhairema will resume production at the Zhomart mine

In the Ulytau region of Kazakhstan, the development of the mothballed Zhomart mine will be resumed. Ferromanganese ores at the deposit will be mined by Manganese Zhairema JSC. The company posted the mining plan on the Unified Environmental Portal of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Production is planned to take place in 2024–2033. Before starting to develop the reserves, specialists need to drain the quarry, which currently contains about 1.84 million m³ of water. During the year, quarry water will be pumped out and purified to standard categories.

As of January 1, 2023, the balance reserves of iron ore amount to about 5,330 thousand tons, manganese – 8,733 thousand tons. In the first year of operation of the Zhomart mine, they plan to extract 500 thousand tons of raw materials, after which Manganese Zhairema will reach its design capacity capacity 750 thousand tons of ore per year.

The mined ore will be processed, as it was done before the mothballing of the deposit, at the processing plant of the Zhairemsky Mining and Processing Plant. The company intends to resume production of commercial concentrate containing 35% manganese and 10.5% iron. The company plans to produce 270 thousand tons of finished products per year.

December 18, 2023
Temirtau plans to revive Qarmet

The authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan discussed with investor Andrey Lavrentyev the phased development of the Qarmet metallurgical plant. The new management of the plant was given a number of important tasks, including modernization of equipment and compliance with industrial safety requirements. In addition, the authorities reminded the new investor about the timely fulfillment of all obligations to Qarmet employees.

The notorious ArcelorMittal Temirtau metallurgical plant, after a change of owner, was returned to its previous name – Qarmet. Now the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan is monitoring the resumption of work at the plant, reports the press service of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov.

At the initial stage, about $1.3 billion will be allocated for the development of Qarmet. These funds will be used to purchase new equipment, introduce modern technologies and eliminate production disruptions in the plant. In the future, these measures should lead to an increase in the volume of products produced.

First of all, an underground positioning system will appear at the enterprise’s mines, which will allow tracking the movement of employees underground. Communication with personnel will enable the dispatcher to maintain work processes and promptly make the right decisions in unexpected situations.

December 18, 2023
Kazatomprom implements digital technologies in industrial safety

A forum dedicated to the digitalization of industrial safety of NAC Kazatomprom JSC was held in Shymkent. The event was attended by managers and employees of subsidiaries and affiliates of the nuclear holding. Forum participants discussed the implementation of automation and digitalization in the field of industrial safety, labor and environmental protection, as well as radiation and nuclear safety.

Kazatomprom’s subsidiary KAP Technology LLP (IT integrator of the nuclear holding) presented plans for the development of eKAP and eKAP HSE information systems in the field of industrial safety, namely the automation of processes for managing personnel admission to high-risk work.

“The safety and health of each employee are Kazatomprom’s top priorities. The company applies a whole range of measures and best international practices to prevent accidents and incidents, and also systematically works with its staff to improve the safety culture at all enterprises of the nuclear holding. A key element of the safety policy is the Vision Zero concept, the goal of which is to reduce the level of injuries at work to zero. To achieve this goal, Kazatomprom enterprises regularly improve industrial safety and labor protection systems, introduce modern automated and digital systems, ensuring the safety of people and the environment,” said Mukhit Magazhanov, Chief Director for General Affairs of NAC Kazatomprom JSC.

Also during the forum, the capabilities of a video analytics system in production were presented. The digital solution allows you to identify and recognize employees, monitor the situation on site, and monitor staff compliance with safety regulations and labor protection standards. With the help of analytics, industrial specialists can identify potentially dangerous situations and use the system to investigate incidents.

“These projects will automate processes such as pre-shift medical examination of workers, pre-shift and post-shift medical examination of personnel, issuance of an electronic permit for high-risk work, recording of dangerous conditions and actions, and training,” commented Nikolay Melnikov, General Director of LLP “ KAP Technology” NAC Kazatomprom JSC.

Moreover, the SAP EHSM information system was presented at the event. The project helps improve environmental, labor and health protection, build a safe working environment, and reduce accidents and incidents at work.

The use of digital innovations will allow the nuclear holding to increase the efficiency of industrial safety and ensure the company’s competitiveness.

December 15, 2023
An electronic auction will be held for the right to explore solid minerals in Kazakhstan

December 20 this year An electronic auction will be held for the right to explore solid minerals in 53 subsoil areas. 52 companies are participating in the auction.

The auction will be held in accordance with the Rules for conducting an auction among applicants with the same priority, approved by order of the Minister of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated May 11, 2018 No. 316.

The auction will take place on the digital platform “E-Qazyna.kz” on December 20 of this year. from 10:00 to 17:00 (AST).

December 15, 2023