Australian-British concern Rio Tinto plans considerable investments in geological exploration in Kazakhstan, the Kazakh Investment and Development Ministry said March 9.
The announcement came after a meeting of Kazakh Deputy Minister for Investment and Development Timur Toktabayev with Rio Tinto Geological Exploration Director Dave Andrews and Exploration Director for the Eurasia-Africa Region Ken Tainton.
The meeting was held within the International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange mining forum in Toronto, Canada.
The meeting was held within the International Convention, Trade Show & Investors Exchange mining forum in Toronto, Canada.
The meeting was also attended by deputy chairman of the board of Kazakh state company Kazgeology, Eldar Tagash and representatives of the Kazakh embassy in Canada.
The parties discussed the current state and prospects of cooperation in geological exploration projects, the draft of the new subsoil code being developed in Kazakhstan and the possibility of increasing investment in geological exploration.
Toktabayev invited Rio Tinto to conduct geological exploration for diamonds in Kazakhstan’s Zhambyl Region jointly with KazGeoTech.
Dave Andrews, in turn, noted that Rio Tinto is interested in the new Subsoil Code, and hopes to switch its contracts to the international tax regime (royalties) that will stimulate processing of raw materials in the country.
Rio Tinto is a leading global mining and metals group that focuses on finding, mining, processing and marketing mineral resources. It has a workforce of about 50,000 in around 35 countries.
Source:Â trend
