Akorda’s release of 20 October gives the project its frame in Tokayev’s words: more than 9,500 deposits in the country, about 160 million tonnes of ore mined a year and about 3.5 million tonnes of copper concentrate produced, which the smelter is meant to turn into metal at home. Manufacturing output reached $60 billion last year, and 540 industrial projects over three years created about 50,000 permanent jobs, he said.
KAZ Minerals operates the Aktogay and Bozshakol open-pit mines and the Aktogay sulphide concentrators, and has been owned since 2021 by Nova Resources, the vehicle of its chairman Oleg Novachuk and Vladimir Kim, after its delisting from London. The group sells concentrate, much of it to Chinese smelters, which is the trade the Aktogay plant would shorten.
NFC, China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co., is the engineering partner by Akorda’s wording. The release names no contract value, no financing structure and no annual capacity for the plant, and dates the first cathode to 2030.
The group sells concentrate, much of it to Chinese smelters, which is the trade the Aktogay plant would shorten.
Tokayev launched the plant two days before his Security Council approved the military reform plan and eight days before the Address to the nation on 28 October. For the copper market the figure to watch is the capacity the release omits. For the region it is the 1,000 jobs in Abai, the region cut from East Kazakhstan in 2022.