A new mining project is taking shape in Karabalyk District, near Kazakhstan’s border with Russia. The subsoil user Tarutinskoye plans to develop the copper deposits using open-pit mining and reach annual production of 500,000 tonnes of ore. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2028, while the site is currently being prepared for infrastructure construction.
The deposit is divided into two separate areas, Northern and Southern, located about two kilometers apart. The total mining allotment covers 4.76 square kilometers, while the planned pit could reach a depth of 112 meters. The nearest railway station, Boskol, is around 15 kilometers away, while the district center of Karabalyk is 55 kilometers from the site.
The geological picture is mixed. According to the reserves balance approved in 2021, the deposit contains 2.03 million tonnes of ore classified as reserves, with 22,100 tonnes of copper at an average grade of 1.09%. Off-balance resources are considerably larger, totaling 9.75 million tonnes of ore and 69,700 tonnes of copper, although grades are lower at around 0.7%.
The deposit also contains by-product metals, including 88.5 kilograms of gold and 5.6 tonnes of silver. The planned mining method is conventional open-pit extraction using drilling and blasting to break the rock mass.
Preparatory work is scheduled for 2027, as the future mine site currently lacks both road access and power infrastructure. The license is held by KM Kazakh Mining Company, which acquired the asset from Aktobe Copper Company, historically linked to the Russian Copper Company (RMK).
The project initially appears relatively small in scale, but its off-balance resources provide room for expansion. If copper prices remain strong, lower-grade ores could become economically viable, potentially extending the mine’s operating life well beyond the initially planned horizon.
Source: Qazba.kz
Image: metalmininginfo.kz
