Kazakhstan - Mining Equipment Kazakhstan - Mining Equipment
This is a best prospect industry sector for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.
Overview
Kazakhstan is endowed with a wide range of mineral resources including coal, ferrous metals, and non-ferrous metals. More than 230 separate enterprises produce or process coal, iron and steel, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, gold, aluminum, titanium sponge, uranium, and barites among others. The mining sector accounts for an estimated 14% of GDP, and in 2018 hard minerals and metals made up approximately 16% of the country’s exports by value. For example, last year the country earned USD2.3 billion from exports of refined copper to non-EAEU countries, USD792 million from zinc exports, USD538 million from silver, USD369 million from aluminum, USD251 million from lead, and USD121 million from titanium. Kazakhstan is the world’s leading producer of uranium with its 21,705 tons of output in 2018.
The country is the 8th largest in iron ore reserves with 12.5 billion tons. The nation ranks second, globally, in manganese ore reserves, which are estimated at 600 million tons. Kazakhstan boasts 30% of worldwide chromite ore deposits. The country is also a significant producer of beryllium, tantalum, barite, and cadmium among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The country's current reserves of copper are estimated at 36million tons. Kazakhstan also hosts 30% of the worldwide chromite ore deposits, as well as 95% of the total chromium reserves within the CIS.
Kazakhstan is paying attention to developing its gold mining (ranked 10th globally) and uranium mining (25% of world reserves) as commodity prices rise and is seeking to attract foreign investment in order to expand current production.
Kazakhmys Corporation (private mining company that owns and operates ten ore mines, five ore processing plants, two copper smelters and two coal mines in Kazakhstan) plans to invest over USD16 million in further development of the industrial complex Nurkazgan. In the next three years the company plans to implement the project Production Development at Production Enterprises Karagandatsvetmet and Balkhashtsvetmet with the aim of building and commissioning the Western, Eastern and Northern Sections of the deposit. The industrial complex includes the mine Nurkazgan and a concentrator. The mine is 6 km away from the town of Temirtau in Karaganda region; it was commissioned in 2006 and currently copper-bearing ore is extracted there. The current volume of mined ore amounts to 3.8 million tons per year while the company has plans to increase the volume to 4 million tons.
The mining industry in Kazakhstan is mainly focused on exports to Russia, China and the EU. Much of the technology and management practices of this industry date from Soviet times, which has hampered foreign sales. Exports of mining equipment to Kazakhstan have been limited by a lack of investment in this sector. In the mid-1990's, many foreign investors entered the country and started exploration and development activities, but, with few exceptions, ceased their operations due to lack of transparency, poor financial incentives, unclear and arbitrary laws which favor local investors, bureaucracy, and unclear land tenure laws.
The principal law “On Subsoil and Subsoil Use”, New Mining Code, effective 2018
On the 27th of December in 2017, Kazakhstan adopted a new Code “On Subsoil and Subsoil Use” (the Subsoil Code) that became effective on July 1, 2018. The Subsoil Code replaced the previous charter regulating oil and gas and mining activities.
The amendments to the Code are the following: different regulations for mining and petroleum industries; new rules on the grant/award of subsoil use rights; reinstatement of the license as the main title document for the mining activity (except for uranium mining); new allocation of powers between the various state authorities involved in the award, suspension and termination of subsoil use rights, and monitoring compliance with the terms/requirements of relevant contracts and licenses, and changes in the regulatory clearance procedures applicable to the transfers of subsoil use rights/assets. BMI Research names Kazakhstan as Europe’s mining ‘outperformers’ and ranks it 1st regionally and 6th globally due to its favorable regulatory environment.
Leading Sub-Sectors
Kazakhstan remains an attractive market for U.S. mining equipment/machinery suppliers, particularly for manufacturers of bulldozers, drilling equipment, explosives, trucks, drill rigs, trams, cranes, crushing and pulverizing machinery, dredges, hydraulic excavators, quarrying machinery and equipment, elevators, compressors, hammer mills, special trucks, etc.
Among the best sales prospects and services are diamond drilling contractors and service providers that perform geological, geochemical and geophysical surveying; equipment involved in bulk sampling such as a processing plant; small aircraft; fuel supplies; and geological supplies like sample bags. Companies that provide goods and services that address erosion, formation of sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and contamination of groundwater and surface water by chemicals from the mining process as well as products that may minimize the harm towards the environment, will also enjoy significant demand in Kazakhstan. Explosives also present interesting opportunities in the region.
Opportunities
More than half of Kazakhstan’s mining, processing, and smelting enterprises currently use outdated equipment that is often in need of repair. Almost all lack environmentally friendly technologies. Kazakhstan does not have its own mining machinery industry and relies heavily on Russian imports. U.S. mining equipment firms should explore trade opportunities in used and refurbished equipment, as well as turnkey project management. U.S. mining equipment and service suppliers should target major players in the mining sector such as KAZMinerals PLC, Kazakhmys, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), TNK Kazchrome, KazakhGold Group, ShalkiyaZinc, KazAtomProm, and others.
Trade Events
MinTech 2019 Ust-Kamenogorsk: MinTech International Exhibition of Equipment and Technologies for Mineral, Metallurgy & Coal Mining Industries. - Date: 22-24 May 2019, Ust’-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. Organizer: KazEXPO International Exhibition Company
MinTech 2019 Pavlodar: MinTech International Exhibition of Equipment and Technologies for Mineral, Metallurgy & Coal Mining Industries. - Date: 28-30 May 2019, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. Organizer: KazEXPO International Exhibition Company
AMM 2019 (Astana Mining and Metallurgy): 8th International Mining and Metallurgy Congress - Dates: 12-13 June 2019, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Organized by ITE Group PLC, Iteca LLP
MiningWorld Central Asia 2019: 25rd Central Asian International Mining Exploration & Mining Equipment Exhibition - Dates: 18-20 September 2019, Almaty, Kazakhstan. Organized by ITE Group PLC, Iteca LLP
Web Resources
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG)
Kazminerals
KazakhGold Group
KazAtomProm Corporation
Kazakhmys
Mining World Central Asia Expo
MinTek Kazakhstan
Tau-Ken Samruk
Republican Association of Extraction and Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises of Kazakhstan (AEME)
For more information contact Commercial Specialist Azhar Kadrzhanova.