MINEX Forum

Tag: Karaganda

  • Private Firm AGI Ltd Launches Copper Exploration at Shat Site in Kazakhstan’s Karaganda Region

    Private Firm AGI Ltd Launches Copper Exploration at Shat Site in Kazakhstan’s Karaganda Region

    Private company AGI Ltd has announced plans to conduct copper exploration at the Shat licence area in the Karkaralinsky District of Karaganda Region, according to a notice of planned activities published on Kazakhstan’s environmental portal.

    The company received a six-year solid mineral exploration licence on 23 December 2025. The Shat site covers an area of 8.87 square kilometres and is located 260 kilometres east of Karaganda and 26 kilometres west of the settlement of Ainabulak.

    The exploration programme involves drilling trenches and collecting a total of 16,800 core samples weighing more than 67 tonnes, 1,260 channel samples totalling 315 kilograms, and 25 geochemical samples weighing 7.3 kilograms. All samples will be transported to Karaganda for laboratory analysis. Upon completion of fieldwork, AGI Ltd plans to produce a final geological report with a mineral resource and reserve assessment prepared in accordance with the KazRC standard. The primary objective is a geologically substantiated evaluation of the site’s copper prospectivity, with forecast resources to be assessed at P1 category level by comparison with analogous commercial deposits.

    AGI Ltd was registered at the Astana International Financial Centre on 2 July 2025. Its co-owners are listed as Mariyam Ospanova, Abilzhan Khusainov and Ainur Mukhatayeva. Khusainov is an honorary citizen of Kokshetau, a doctor of biological sciences and a professor at Ualikhanov University, while Ospanova is the director and sole owner of a food retail business in Atyrau.

    The third co-owner, Ainur Mukhatayeva, also holds a stake alongside China Nonferrous Mining Corporation and Saltanat Sabdykeyeva in SM Minerals Ltd, a separate AIFC-registered company focused on copper ore mining and processing. That connection is notable given recent developments involving China Nonferrous Mining’s Kazakhstani footprint: in December, the Chinese state-backed group paid $89 million to raise its stake in SM Minerals to 70%, which holds subsoil rights at the North and South Benkala copper deposits in Aktobe Region — a project the company has identified as one of its key assets outside Africa.

    The announcements come as copper prices remain elevated, trading above $12,300 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange, having briefly reached a record above $14,000 per tonne in late January.

  • Tau-Ken Samruk and U.S. Cove Capital to Jointly Develop Major Tungsten Deposits in Kazakhstan

    Tau-Ken Samruk and U.S. Cove Capital to Jointly Develop Major Tungsten Deposits in Kazakhstan

    Kazakhstan’s state mining holding Tau-Ken Samruk and U.S.-based Cove Capital have signed an agreement to jointly develop the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten deposits in the Karaganda region. The document was signed on the sidelines of the C5+1 Summit in Washington, D.C.

    According to Reuters, the joint venture will be 70% controlled by Cove Capital, with total investments estimated at $1.1 billion, including up to $900 million in financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank), kursiv.media reported.

    Specialists are already conducting preparatory work for the feasibility study (FS) for the Northern Katpar project. The investment initiative foresees the use of existing primary processing capacities in Kazakhstan to produce ammonium paratungstate (APT) — a key intermediate product for high-demand materials such as tungsten powders and wear-resistant components used in tools, machinery, and defense applications.

    The Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits are considered among the largest tungsten reserves in the world, with combined resources of up to 410,000 tonnes of tungsten, according to the JORC classification.

    Tau-Ken Samruk acquired LLP Northern Katpar and the deposit itself in 2015 for 7.7 billion tenge, while the Upper Kairakty exploration license was obtained in 2016.

    Founded in 2015, Cove Capital invests in renewable energy and mining projects. In Kazakhstan, the U.S. company is already engaged in rare and rare-earth metal exploration at the Gremyachinsky site in East Kazakhstan and Akbulak in the Kostanay region.

  • U.S. and Kazakhstan Forge Joint Venture to Secure Global Tungsten Supply

    U.S. and Kazakhstan Forge Joint Venture to Secure Global Tungsten Supply

    Following the announcement of the joint venture between US-based Cove Capital LLC and Kazakhstan’s National Mining Company, JSC Tau-Ken Samruk, further details have emerged regarding the development timeline and scale of the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten projects.

    Cove Kaz Capital Group LLC (“Cove Kaz”), a portfolio company of U.S.-based Cove Capital LLC, will hold a 70 per cent interest, with Tau-Ken Samruk retaining 30 per cent ownership of Severniy Katpar LLP, which owns the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty tungsten projects.

    Cove Kaz will oversee marketing of 100 per cent of project output and has entered into a Letter of Intent with the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce to prioritise supply for U.S. government and commercial needs.

    The announcement was made in Washington, D.C., during the C5+1 Leaders’ Summit by U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

    Total development costs for the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty projects are estimated at USD $1.1 billion. The Export-Import Bank of the United States has issued a Letter of Interest for USD $900 million in financing, complemented by a similar commitment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

    Cove Kaz’s project team will be led by Dominic Heaton, who previously oversaw development of the Nui Phao integrated tungsten mine and refinery in Vietnam – the world’s largest tungsten operation outside China. Preparatory work has already commenced to support a Definitive Feasibility Study for Northern Katpar, including the establishment of downstream refining capacity in Kazakhstan to produce ammonium paratungstate (APT) and other tungsten compounds.

    Pini Althaus, Chief Executive Officer of Cove Capital and Cove Kaz Capital, expressed gratitude for U.S. and Kazakh government support:

    “On behalf of Cove Capital and Cove Kaz, I wish to thank President Donald J. Trump, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and the U.S. Trade Advocacy Center for their exceptional engagement. Their efforts have aligned financing, offtake pathways, and policy support to deliver a secure, allied tungsten supply for America’s industrial and defence needs.

    “I also wish to thank President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for his leadership and partnership. This collaboration is a win for both nations—strengthening U.S. supply chains while fostering investment and long-term prosperity in Kazakhstan.”

    Tungsten – A Critical Industrial and Defence Mineral

    Tungsten is ranked by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency as a “material of interest” and by the European Union as the raw material of highest economic importance due to its unique physical properties: the highest tensile strength at high temperatures, the highest melting point of any metal, and exceptional corrosion resistance.

    Its density and durability make tungsten indispensable in high-performance cutting and drilling tools, aerospace alloys, semiconductor contacts, and radiation shielding. In defence applications, tungsten is used in armour-piercing munitions, missile components, aircraft ballast, and other high-stress environments.

    Currently, China controls over 80 per cent of global tungsten production and processing. In February 2025, China imposed new export restrictions on tungsten and tungsten-containing products to the United States.

    Severniy Katpar LLP

    Severniy Katpar LLP holds licences for two projects—Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty—located approximately 30 kilometres apart in the established Karaganda mining district of central Kazakhstan, less than 160 kilometres south of the city of Karaganda.

    Feasibility studies completed in April 2023 report total JORC-compliant mineral resources of 1.4 million tonnes of tungsten trioxide (WO₃), accounting for around 70 per cent of Kazakhstan’s total tungsten resources. For comparison, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates China’s reserves at 2.4 million tonnes.

    Combined production from both projects is expected to reach 12,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of tungsten trioxide—approximately 15 per cent of current global output.

    Cove Capital’s Broader Commitment in Kazakhstan

    Cove Capital’s portfolio company, Kaz Resources LLC, became in 2023 the first U.S. entity to receive critical minerals and rare earth concessions in Kazakhstan. These include licences for 13 minerals such as lithium, tantalum, beryllium, niobium, and rare earth elements.

    In 2024, Cove Capital and Tau-Ken Samruk formalised a joint venture for exploration of rare earths at the Akbulak project in the Kostanay region, with Cove holding 75 per cent and “Qazgeology” JSC 25 per cent. Cove is fully financing exploration activities until reserves are booked.

    About Cove Capital LLC

    Founded in 2015, Cove Capital is a mining-focused investment and development firm headquartered in New York and Melbourne. Since 2018, the company has focused on critical minerals projects that enhance U.S. and allied supply chains. Led by CEO Pini Althaus, Cove Capital brings extensive expertise across exploration, mining, processing, and offtake structuring.

    About Tau-Ken Samruk

    Tau-Ken Samruk, Kazakhstan’s national mining company, manages the sustainable development of the nation’s mineral wealth. Through partnerships with international investors, it aims to strengthen Kazakhstan’s mining sector and support the country’s long-term economic growth.

  • The population of the Karaganda region opposed beryllium mining

    The population of the Karaganda region opposed beryllium mining

    The project for the development of the Nura-Taldy field, the license for which is held by Ressource PV LLP, was criticized by residents of the Nurataldinsky rural district. The local population is sounding the alarm that beryllium mining will negatively affect the environment and health of villagers, reports the 24KZ channel .

    The deposit is located in close proximity to a rural district, and some of the houses are included in the sanitary protection zone. Public hearings on the project took place in the summer of 2023, but local residents note that they were not aware of the meeting. Most of the district’s population is engaged in livestock farming. Citizens believe that they may lose pastures if the field is launched.  

    Ressource PV plans to open-pit mine beryllium ores for 10 years. According to estimates, the on-balance reserves of Nura-Talda amount to over 4.39 million tons of ore, off-balance reserves – 432.9 thousand tons. The average metal content in ore is 0.19%.

    The authorities say that the development of the deposit is of key importance both for the production of rare metals in the Republic of Kazakhstan and for the development of the region. The project should reduce the dependence of the Ulba Metallurgical Plant on imported beryllium, which will be engaged in the enrichment of raw materials mined at Nura-Taldy.

    The subsoil user is ready to resettle some of the villagers and promises to comply with all environmental requirements, in particular regarding the number of emissions standards. They want to start the project in two years, but now the company will need to reach an agreement with the local population.

  • Gold Corp will search for metals in the Karaganda region

    Gold Corp will search for metals in the Karaganda region

    Gold Corp  will begin geological exploration work in the Karkaraly district of the Karaganda region. The company intends to explore the Kyzylshoky site, for which it received a license for a period of six years in 2023. We learned about the company’s intentions from the work plan published on the Unified Environmental Portal of Kazakhstan.

    Geological exploration is planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2028. The area of ​​the geological allotment is 23.3 km 2 . There are two ore occurrences in the licensed area: Western and Eastern Kyzylshoki. According to previous studies, the average content of bismuth in ore bodies ranges from 0.04–0.524%, copper – 0.747–2.35%, silver – 8–63 g/t, tin – 0.004%, germanium – 0.0025%.

    Specialists will clarify the results and take samples for the above and other metals. The research will be carried out by the laboratory of VNIITsvetmet.

    The preliminary volume of drilling work was set at 20 thousand linear. m for the entire exploration period. The locations and depths of wells will be determined after receiving the results of the previous stages of exploration work.

  • Enterprises of the Karaganda region are reducing emissions into the atmosphere

    Enterprises of the Karaganda region are reducing emissions into the atmosphere

    The Karaganda region stands as one of Kazakhstan’s most heavily polluted areas, accounting for a significant 21% of the nation’s total emissions, equating to over 450 thousand tons of detrimental substances. This concerning statistic was shared by the Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources during a community meeting in the region, as reported by Khabar 24.

    Mansur Oshurbaev revealed that the “Zhasyl Kazakhstan” national initiative is actively underway across three major enterprises within the region. The primary objective of this initiative is the reduction of air pollution. According to the deputy minister, the Temirtau Iron and Steel Works is targeting a substantial 60% decrease in emissions by 2025, while the Balkhash copper smelter aims for a 44% reduction, and the Karaganda thermal power plants strive for a 10% decrease.

    The prominent contributors to the atmospheric pollution are ArcelorMittal Temirtau and Kazakhmys. As the year concludes, Kazakhmys is on track to finalize the construction of a sulfuric acid plant. This crucial project is projected to curtail emissions into the atmosphere by 50% by 2025. This development addresses a significant concern for many residents of the Balkhash city.