In the Korday district of the Zhambyl region, construction of a processing complex based on the Gagarinskoye deposit is planned. The project, implemented by Shokpar-Gagarinskoye LLP, provides for processing up to 1 million tons of ore per year. Construction is scheduled for 2026–2027, with production launch expected after commissioning, according to infohub.kz.
According to the project balance, from 1 million tons of ore it is planned to produce 7.1 thousand tons of lead concentrate and 9 thousand tons of zinc concentrate, as well as 1.483 tons of Doré alloy. Thus, the total output of concentrates will be about 16.1 thousand tons per year.
Notably, the capacity of the Shokpar-Gagarinskoye mining and metallurgical complex was previously estimated at 500 thousand tons of ore per year, meaning the new design capacity is twice as high.
As of 2019, the balance reserves of the Gagarinskoye deposit amounted to 2.26 million tons of ore and 10.1 tons of gold, while the Shokpar deposit had 1.55 million tons of ore and 11 tons of gold. The average gold grade was 4.48 and 7.05 grams per ton, respectively.
The company holds gold mining licenses until 2038. In 2025, an additional 68 wells were drilled with a total length of 10.94 km.
After a deal completed in 2026, the owner of the subsoil user became Turan Minerals Ltd., whose owners are stated as Diyar Yereshev and Igor Vetіul. The transaction amount was 4.918 billion tenge.
Initially, the company was owned by the quasi-state JSC "NMK "Tau-Ken Samruk". In 2021, it was sold for 4.2 billion tenge. The buyer was Sunlight Investments, whose current owners are Ualikhan Atageldiev and Igor Vetіul. Ualikhan Atageldiev previously served as General Director of Altynalmas Reagents.
In 2025, the company received a loan from its shareholder Igor Vetіul in the amount of $6.7 million and from director Diyar Kanashev – 2.5 billion tenge. After that, in April 2026, it became the property of Turan Minerals Ltd., whose owners are Diyar Yereshev and Igor Vetіul.
Until mid-2024, Diyar Kanashev and Igor Vetіul were shareholders of the gold mining company Altynalmas: Diyar Kanashev owned 10.5% of shares, Igor Vetіul – 6.5%. Later, their shares were bought out.
Earlier it was reported that Kazakhstan plans to start commercial mining of gold-bearing ore at the Aktas I and Aktas II deposits near Balkhash. The project envisages the enterprise reaching a capacity of 1.2 million tons of ore per year.