ASTANA – Kazakhstan and China signed an agreement to construct a smelter with a capacity of 300,000 tons of copper per year during a June 3 meeting between Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov and Chairman of China Nonferrous Metal Mining Xi Zhengping, reported the Prime Minister’s press service.
Photo credit: Kazakhmys Holding. Click to see the map in full size. The map is designed by The Astana Times.
The trilateral agreement was signed between KAZ Minerals Smelting LLP, China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd. (NFC), and NFC Kazakhstan LLP.
Photo credit: Prime Minister’s press service
The plant will be built near the village of Aktogai in the Abai Region. Its construction will create a cluster combining one of the world’s largest copper mines and a modern copper smelting facility. The project, with a preliminary cost of $1.5 billion, will employ over 1,000 people and is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2028.
The high-tech enterprise will be the country’s largest in producing high-value-added products. The applied technologies in copper smelting correspond to the world’s environmental standards.
The enterprise will meet the domestic market demand for processing copper-containing raw materials and copper cathode widely used in the power industry, machine building, and other industrial sectors. It is also planned to produce refined gold, silver and sulphuric acid.
“The President has set the task of sustainable economic growth. The construction of the new copper smelter is a major industrial project that will increase the processing of copper raw materials mined in the country and will make a great contribution to the Kazakh economy,” said Bektenov.
