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China Factor

Zijin, building a $600 million gold plant at Raygorodok, tells Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister it wants the Shalkiya zinc deposit

Nurlybek Nalibayev met representatives of Zijin Mining Group on Tuesday, the government's site reported at 20:35 Astana time. The Chinese company, which produced more than 1 million tonnes of copper and 90 tonnes of gold in 2025, is putting more than $600 million into a new gold-extraction plant at Raygorodok in Akmola oblast and 'expressed interest' in the Shalkiya lead-zinc deposit in Kyzylorda oblast, a state asset whose own project page still shows a schedule that ended in 2022.

By CAW Staff16 September 2026
Zijin, building a $600 million gold plant at Raygorodok, tells Kazakhstan's first deputy prime minister it wants the Shalkiya zinc deposit

The readout names no Zijin executive. It gives the company's 2025 output as more than 1 million tonnes of copper, fourth among the world's producers, and 90 tonnes of gold, and describes the Raygorodok project as additional capacity to process 10 million tonnes of ore a year. The sides 'discussed prospects for investment cooperation in Kazakhstan's mining and metallurgical industry'.

Shalkiya is a Tau-Ken Samruk project. The national mining company's project page puts the deposit in Zhanakorgan district with 127.5 million tonnes of ore at 4.27% zinc and 1.28% lead, under subsoil contract No. 935 of 2002 for 45 years, with an EBRD loan of $295 million in the financing plan, a first stage scheduled for 2014 to the third quarter of 2022 and a second from the fourth quarter of 2022. The newest progress line on the page is dated 1 September 2019.

The readout names no Zijin executive.

On Shalkiya the government's readout carries no figure, no timetable and no word on the EBRD loan. Kazakhstan and China hold their investment forum in Almaty on 25 September, with Tokayev due to attend.

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