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The National Program for the Reproduction of the Mineral Resources" iconbox_content="Kazakhstan is among the top ten leading countries in the world in terms of confirmed reserves of most types of minerals." icon_content_align="center" icon_link_url="https://2024.minexasia.com/programma/" link_target="true" title_linkable="" box_linkable="" icon_size="50" icon_color_hover="#ffffff" icon_name="icon-ecommerce-graph-increase"]
[vc_toggle title="Read further"]According to the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the extractive sector contributes about 30% of the GDP. However, with the current intensive production, the country is close to depleting its mineral resources and needs to boost exploration programmes. It must be recognised that geological exploration in Kazakhstan is not developed. For 30 years, not a single large mine has been discovered in the country. There are several objective reasons why this happened. Kazakhstan has the lowest rate of investment compared to leading mining jurisdictions. For 1 km² Kazakhstan invests only $ 11 in exploration. In comparison, Australia’s investment in exploration per 1 km² is $ 167 and in Canada $ 203 per. Such investments bring visible results that are reflected in the standard of living of these countries. As global experience shows, companies invest in exploration in those countries where the state at its own expense has already carried out or is conducting early stages of exploration offering investors access to a database of promising areas with indicated resources. To date, a total of more than 8 thousand deposits have been registered on the state balance of minerals of the country. Of these, hydrocarbons - 317, solid minerals - 910, common minerals - more than 3 thousand and about 4 thousand groundwater deposits.
Among the problems having a negative impact on the state and prospects of development of the geological industry are the following
- low level of digitalisation of infrastructure and business processes;
- shortage of personnel;
- weak involvement of scientific organisations in the state geological study of subsurface resources;
- underdeveloped infrastructure for storing geological information.
In this regard, the main objective of the geological sector development concept is to create conditions for attracting investment in mineral exploration.
The
concept of development of the geological industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2027 involves the solution of several key tasks.
Increasing the geological study of territories and identifying promising areas, primarily for critical minerals (non-ferrous, precious and rare metals), including replenishing the resource base of single-industry towns with the predominant development of mining and metallurgical enterprises.
Development of the infrastructure of the geological industry, primarily in hard-to-reach steppe and mountainous regions of Kazakhstan
Creation of conditions for increasing the competitiveness of domestic geological exploration enterprises and geological services.
Improving the efficiency of geological exploration through the introduction of modern technologies for digitalization, monitoring, and automation of production processes. Advanced training of employees of the geological industry.
The "Development of the geological industry" national program is included in the National Project "Sustainable Economic Growth Aimed at Improving the Welfare of Kazakhstanis". Kazakhstan leads as the top investment country in Central Asia attracting 46% of foreign investment. The main investor countries are the Netherlands, the United States, Switzerland, the Russian Federation, China, Belgium, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Turkey and France. The growth of foreign investment in the mining industry in 2022 reached 18.3%. In 2023-25, Kazakhstan plans to intensify state participation in identifying promising areas and facilities for subsequent transfer to subsoil use.
According to existing plans, by 2026 the study of the territory of Kazakhstan will increase by 680 thousand square kilometres and will cover 2.2 million square km. In Kazakhstan, there are significant prospects for the discovery of new deposits of tungsten, molybdenum, aluminium, and tin, as well as rare metals. In addition, considering current trends in the world market and the increased demand for rare and rare earth metals, as well as lithium, special attention is paid to identifying promising areas for these types of raw materials.
In June, the National Geological Service was established based on the Republican Center for Geological Information "Kazgeoinform" and the National Geological Exploration Company "Kazgeology". The service will provide comprehensive support to investors through open access to geological information, the National Mineral Resources Data Bank. National Geological Service will accumulate, systemise and analyse geological information jointly with the scientific institutions of Kazakhstan. The National Geological Survey plans to build two core storage facilities. As a result, the level of provision of public infrastructure in the geological sectors will reach 100%.[/vc_toggle][vc_empty_space]