First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Nurlibek Nalibayev held talks with representatives of international mining company Zijin Mining Group to discuss new investment projects in the country. According to the government's press service, the focus was on the extraction and processing of solid minerals, infohub.kz reports.
The two sides examined prospects for cooperation in the mining and metals sector, including projects for deep processing of mineral raw materials and the introduction of modern technologies.
Zijin Mining Group is one of the world's largest mining companies. In 2025, the company produced more than 1 million tonnes of copper, ranking fourth among global producers. Gold output totaled 90 tonnes.
In Kazakhstan, Zijin Mining operates at the Raygorodok deposit in Akmola Region. The company is also investing more than $600 million in the construction of a new gold recovery plant. The project will add capacity to process 10 million tonnes of ore per year. As a result, the total capacity of the mining and processing complex will reach 16 million tonnes.
"The company also expressed interest in the Shalkiya lead-zinc deposit and its readiness to work through the possibility of participating in the project in detail," the government said.
The Shalkiya deposit is located in the Zhanakorgan district of Kyzylorda Region, about 17 km from Zhanakorgan. Polymetallic ore is mined there, with zinc and lead as its main components. The project is handled by ShalkiyaZinc LTD JSC, whose 100% of shares are owned by Tau-Ken Samruk National Mining Company. The project envisages processing ore and producing zinc and lead concentrates.
The meeting also separately discussed the creation of new jobs, the introduction of modern technologies, and environmental and industrial safety issues.
Following the talks, the two sides agreed to continue work on promising investment projects in Kazakhstan.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that mining company Tau-Ken Samruk posted a profit of 111.4 billion tenge, more than doubling it. Nearly half of that amount – 55.2 billion tenge – was provided to the Samruk-Kazyna subsidiary by the sale of the Severny Katpar tungsten deposit to a US company.