New hydrocarbon and rare earth metal deposits have been discovered in Kazakhstan.
Astana. December 12. KAZAKHSTAN TODAY - In Kazakhstan, 60 promising sites have been identified with estimated resources for precious, non-ferrous, and ferrous metals, according to a publication on primeminister.kz regarding the results of Kazakhstan's development in 2024.
Exploration activities are ongoing at an additional 12 sites.
Currently, there is data indicating the potential of the Kuiraktykol site, with reserves estimated at approximately 800 thousand tons and projected resources of 935.4 thousand tons of rare earth metals, including cerium and lanthanides. Additionally, efforts are being made to attract investments to the industry and enhance the potential of rare earth metals by declassifying data on balance reserves, excluding osmium and rhenium," the report states.
Kazakhstan also has significant prospects for discovering new hydrocarbon deposits.
Today, the mineral resource base includes 987 deposits of solid minerals, and the dynamics of their exploration remain positive," government officials noted.
As a result of geological exploration activities in 2024, 17 deposits have been registered with the state, containing the following mineral reserves and resources:
- gold - reserves of 107.5 tons, resources of 337.04 tons;
- silver - reserves of 1904.5 tons, resources of 172087.2 tons;
- copper - reserves of 4916.7 thousand tons, resources of 7796.9 thousand tons;
- zinc - reserves of 2549.6 thousand tons, resources of 338.9 thousand tons;
- iron ores - reserves of 128 million tons, resources of 162 million tons;
- lead - reserves of 1319.5 thousand tons, resources of 64.1 thousand tons;
- tungsten - reserves of 409.9 thousand tons, resources of 743 thousand tons;
- chromium - resources of 464.1 thousand tons;
- molybdenum - reserves of 14 tons, resources of 39 tons;
- manganese - reserves of 794 thousand tons, resources of 1137.3 thousand tons.
This year, 6 hydrocarbon deposits have also been registered with the state for the first time, particularly gas with a volume of 1776.5 million m 3 .
Regarding production, one of the priority areas remains automotive manufacturing and the development of the oil and gas chemical industry .
Currently, large projects are being implemented for the production of polypropylene and polyethylene. New promising projects are being developed, such as the production of butadiene, urea, and terephthalic acid. Importantly, all these initiatives are aimed at creating new growth points in the country's regions," the report highlights.
In 2024, the introduction of 180 investment projects is planned, totaling nearly 1.3 trillion tenge, 164 of which are in the manufacturing sector. In terms of the number of projects within the unified industrialization map, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, and Zhambyl regions currently lead, while Atyrau, Karaganda, and West Kazakhstan regions lead in investment volumes.
As for the manufacturing industry , it has surpassed the raw materials sector in volume, with 48% compared to 45%. Growth in this sector reached nearly 5%.
The main growth is observed in several sectors:
- Machine Engineering
Growth of 6.9%, driven by increased production of computer equipment, electrical devices, agricultural, and railway machinery.
- Ferrous Metallurgy
Growth reached 10.8%. This is a result of increased production of ferroalloys, steel, flat rolled products, and cast iron.
- Non-Ferrous Metallurgy
Production volume increased by 4.8%, thanks to the growth in the production of copper, zinc, lead, and aluminum.
- Chemical Industry
An 8.4% growth has been recorded, significantly contributed to by the increase in the production of polypropylene and sodium bichromate.
In the future, several major projects are planned in this sector:
- Iron Ore
The production of hot-briquetted iron in the Kostanay region (JSC "SSGPO") and a metallurgical cluster in the Pavlodar region (LLP "Mineral Product International", products: ferroalloys, hot-briquetted iron, and steel).
- Copper Ore
The construction of a copper smelting plant in the Abai region (LLP "KAZ Minerals Smelting" KAZ Minerals Smelting/NFC"), as well as the processing of raw materials from the Aydarly and Koksai deposits based on the enterprises of Kazakhmys (Zhezkazgan and Balkhash copper smelting plants).