KazGeorud has revised its plans for mining copper-zinc ore at the Limannoye deposit in the Aktobe Region: over the next seven years, it intends to extract 6.27 million tonnes of ore — nearly 400,000 tonnes less than the previous plan, infohub.kz reports.
In a statement on its planned activities, KazGeorud said it will reduce ore output annually starting in 2026. In 2026, output will be 1.06 million tonnes; in 2027, 996,910 tonnes; and in 2028, 1.08 million tonnes. Volumes will then fall to 918,250 tonnes. In total, 6.27 million tonnes of ore are to be mined over the seven years.
The company had previously expected to extract 6.77 million tonnes of ore between 2025 and 2031. KazGeorud attributed the revision to underperformance in 2025, without specifying how much ore was actually mined during that period.
The company has also announced plans to begin underground mining. The projected capacity of the underground mine was to be 1.5 million tonnes of ore per year. The first phase of underground development was planned for 2027–2033, with underground mining expected to begin in 2033. Geological reserves of 23.64 million tonnes of ore were being considered for underground mining.
The Limannoye deposit was discovered in 1976. It is located about 500 m from the Or River and 27 km from the village of Kopa. The existing open pit covers 243 hectares.
Eight ore bodies have been identified at the deposit, with more than 80% of reserves concentrated in the two largest zones. The ore bodies lie at depths of more than 70 m, so the company plans to develop underground mining.
According to disclosed data, the deposit's reserves contain copper, zinc, as well as gold and silver. The reserves approved for design include more than 429,000 tonnes of copper and more than 541,000 tonnes of zinc in categories C1 and C2. Gold reserves are estimated at nearly 12 tonnes.
Under the original development plan, open-pit output was to be increased in stages from 240,000 to 1.23 million tonnes of ore per year.
According to Adata, KazGeorud is owned by Kazakh Mining Company Limited (whose founders are unknown) and Cyprus-based Stonebridge Ventures (Cyprus) Limited. Previously, the owners, through Aktobe Copper Company (AMK), were the sanctioned Russian Copper Company (RMK), linked to Russian businessman Igor Altushkin.
It was previously reported that Tarutinskoye plans to begin developing the East Tarutinskoye copper deposit on the border between the Kostanay Region and Russia.