Kazakhstan has attracted about $1 billion in private investment into its minerals sector over the past five years, says Margulan Baibatyrov, deputy chairman of the geology committee of the Ministry of Industry and Construction.
Speaking at an international mining congress this week, Baibatyrov said the Central Asian nation has “promising reserves” of rare earth minerals, and if forecasts are confirmed, it could become one of the world’s top 10 producers.
This, as Baibatyrov highlights, makes Kazakhstan an attractive hunting ground for mining companies across the world, noting that major international companies alone contributed around $80.6 million to exploration efforts in the country during that five-year period.
According to official geologic data, Kazakhstan currently has more than 980 deposits of solid minerals. Since 2018, it has issued 2,906 exploration licenses and 111 production licenses, but only a dozen of the sites are undergoing exploration activity.
“We began prospecting work at 11 sites in 2022, and in 2024, that work was completed,” Baibatyrov said at the mining congress.
The event is the third annual mining conference being hosted in the capital city of Astana. It aims to bring together key industry representatives from Kazakhstan and seven other countries (China, Hungary, Italy, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) to discuss opportunities in the mining sector.
More exploration
Looking ahead, Baibatyrov added that the nation plans to increase its geological exploration area by one-third by early 2026.
This initiative was previously highlighted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at a Foreign Investors Council meeting last October. At the meeting, he noted that only about 1.6 million sq. km. of the country’s area is being geologically explored.
The aim, according to Baibatyrov, is to increase the area of geological exploration by 680,000 sq. km by 2026.
A hallmark of Kazakhstan’s exploration success, as the geology committee chairman pointed out, is the recent discovery of the large Kuyrektykol deposit, which is estimated to contain 800,000 tonnes of rare earth metals.
If confirmed, the deposit would place Kazakhstan behind only China and Brazil by reserve size.
