Gold production ups in Kazakhstan

Resource-rich Kazakhstan has increased volumes of its gold production.

The country produced nearly 67.59 tons of unprocessed, semi-processed and powder gold in January-November 2016, while the figure is 17.7 percent more than in the same period of 2015, the Kazakh Statistics Committee reported.

The fine gold production in the country increased by 23.7 percent and reached the level of 34.55 tons in January-November 2016.

The production of unprocessed, semi-processed and powder silver dropped by 8.5 percent to 1.09 tons in the reported period. The fine silver production was 1.089 tons, that is, 8.6 percent less than in January-November 2015.

The country earlier announced its plans to increase production of refined gold in the coming years and implement five major projects in the gold mining industry within the framework of the Industrialization Map for 2015-2019.

One of the main objectives of the plan is to increase the volume of refined gold production, as well as develop the jewelry industry.

The volume of investments into the gold mining industry in Kazakhstan amounted to $3.83 billion in 2010-2014. The country is deemed to have the third largest gold reserves in the CIS, following Russia and Uzbekistan.

In 2015 Kazakh enterprises produced 29 tons of fine gold, which was purchased in full by the National bank.

The current raw material base for gold mining includes 293 deposits—primarily small ones, with reserves of up to 25 metric tons, and medium-sized, with reserves ranging from 25 to 100 metric tons. The overall value of gold in Kazakhstan’s deposits is estimated at $48 billion.

Nearly 60 percent of reserves are contained in lode gold deposits, while polymetallic deposits account for some 38 percent. The remaining part is in placer deposits. Metals and mining industry accounts for 30 percent of the country’s income.

source: azernews.com