A new mining project is being prepared in southern Kazakhstan. LLP Hong Kong Link Technology Kazakhstan, controlled by a Hong Kong-based company, has applied to develop the Taskainar fluorspar deposit. According to the project’s initiator, the investment is expected to pay off many times over.
What the mineral is. Fluorite is calcium fluoride. It’s used in metallurgy and the chemical industry, and hydrofluoric acid, derived from it, dissolves rare metals. Demand for the raw material remains steady because it’s tied to high-tech industries.
Investment and expected returns. At a product price of $500 per tonne, revenue is estimated at $640 million. Net profit is projected at $372 million, against an investment of just under $30 million. The ratio speaks for itself.
What lies underground. Taskainar’s reserves were calculated back in the early 1970s, in three variants depending on the minimum fluorite content in the marginal sample. A 20% cutoff yielded 7.449 million tonnes of ore at 33.43% CaF₂. A 15% cutoff gave 8.559 million tonnes at 31.85%. A 10% cutoff inflated the volume to 10.199 million tonnes, but content dropped to 28.40%. The project relies on this last variant.
How it will be mined. The ore bodies lie at depths of thirty to two hundred fifty meters, so a combined scheme is planned. The upper section will be mined by open pit, while the lower section will be developed underground under a separate project. Open-pit extraction is planned for 5.7 million tonnes of ore, containing nearly 1.63 million tonnes of calcium fluoride.
Timeline. Preparatory work is scheduled for 2027–2028. Active mining will start in 2029 with 50,000 tonnes. Peak output of 300,000 tonnes of ore per year is planned for 2033 and will hold through the end of 2048, after which production will decline through 2051.
Transportation. Logistics are tied to the Otar railway station, 45 kilometers to the northeast, where the logistics base will be located. Concentrate from the plant will be trucked in, transferred to railcars, and shipped to customers at metallurgical plants.
Taskainar is positioning itself for a place in the supply chain for the metallurgical and chemical industries. If the hearings proceed without objections, the republic will gain another export resource, and the investor a project with a fast payback.
Source: inbusiness.kz
Image: Pixabay
