The Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan has reported on violations identified in the activities of subsoil users in 2023

In 2023, the Program for the Management of the State Subsoil Fund included the entire territory of the country that is available for subsoil use for the exploration of solid minerals. This was reported at a meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

As a result of the geological exploration work funded by subsoil usage, 25 deposits were registered with the state for the first time, 10 of which are for solid minerals.

To implement the principle of information accessibility, the "Minerals.gov.kz" Unified Platform for Subsoil Users was introduced. This information system provides access to geological reports on the study of the subsoil and facilitates the online application and issuance of licenses for the exploration and extraction of solid minerals (with 325 electronic licenses issued).

Moreover, auctions for granting exploration rights have been conducted in electronic format on the "E-Qazyna.kz" digital platform since last year. The signing bonuses from two auctions amounted to approximately 3.5 billion tenge. Major foreign companies such as Rio Tinto, Fortescue, Kratos Resources, Cove Capital, Esan Eczacibasi, and others participated in electronic trading for the first time in August and December of the previous year, competing with Kazakhstani companies for the right to explore plots.

In the first half of this year, it is planned to auction 23 deposits that were returned as part of an audit and 83 reserve deposits containing gold, manganese, bauxite, lead, zinc, barite, titanium, zirconium, tungsten, coal, etc. The granting of subsoil use rights will be carried out with the establishment of reciprocal obligations, including the obligation to produce products of no less than an average level of processing.

In 2023, the MIC RK actively monitored the fulfillment of obligations, resulting in 1624 notifications being sent to rectify violations of license and contractual conditions. Since the beginning of the deposits audit, the right to use subsoil has been terminated for 145 contracts and 337 licenses. Additionally, due to the non-fulfillment of obligations, subsoil users have been fined a total of 6.4 billion tenge.