The Americans have found "new" deposits in the Soviet archives of geological information, which they now intend to develop. Or rather, to appropriate. The potential reserves of rare earth metals at only one site are estimated at 800 thousand tons. This is reported by Sputnik Kazakhstan.
Minister of Industry and Construction Kanat Sharlapayev said at a meeting of the Government of Kazakhstan that promising areas of rare earth metal deposits have been discovered in the republic. In particular, lithium.
According to him, geological exploration works are being carried out at 12 sites in order to clarify reserves, determine the economic feasibility of their extraction and the choice of technology.
"To date, there are already data on the prospects of the Kuirektykol site, whose reserves are estimated at about 800 thousand tons of rare earth metals," Sharlapayev said.
He added that the exploration work is carried out by the American companies Cove Capital and HMS Bergbau.
As previously reported, Tau-Ken Samruk, in partnership with the US Department of State and the US National Geological Survey (USGS), will explore promising areas in terms of rare metal mining in Kyzylorda and East Kazakhstan regions. This, in particular, was reported by the US State Department.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on July 19, 2024 by Bakyt Chirchikbayev, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC NGK Tau-Ken Samruk, Kimberly Harrington, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the Bureau of Energy Resources of the US Department of State, and Yerlan Galiyev, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC National Geological Survey.
On July 24, 2024, in order to consolidate these agreements, an agreement was signed to establish a joint venture between Kazgeologiya JSC and the American company Kaz Capital Group LLC.
Kazakh-American The joint venture will implement a geological exploration project at the Akbulak site in Kostanay region (35 km southwest of the city of Arkalyk). According to historical geological data, the site contains reserves of rare earth elements (lithium).
At the same time, the Kazakh side will own 25% of the extracted resources, the American side — 75%.