BASS Gold, a Kazakhstani mining company, has obtained a license for extractable resource exploration at eleven new geological blocks near the Ushshoky deposit, on which it has notified the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE).
The Ministry of Industry granted the license to BASS Gold in July 2024. The total area of the new site is 25.1 km², with estimated gold reserves of 2 to 4 tons. The relevant confirmation will be provided in a report prepared in accordance with KAZRC (Kazakhstan Code for Public Reporting for Solid Mineral Reserves) and JORC (International Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves) standards.
«The license opens new opportunities for the planned expansion of mineral reserves, which will ultimately allow us to expand doré bar production (an alloy of gold and silver),» the company explained.
The exploration plan is currently in development; BASS Gold aims to start activities at the beginning of the year. Once ready, the plan will be sent to the Ministry of Ecology for the state ecological examination. The enterprise is authorized for gold ore mining at the Ushshoky deposit under a contract valid from November 30, 1998, until August 9, 2026.
BASS Gold announced the issuance of two-year, 12%-dollar bonds in April, with the borrowed funds invested in a new gold extraction factory at the Ushshoky deposit, launched on April 12, 2024, in the Ulytau region. The factory equipment allows a full ore processing cycle, where the raw material is extracted at the depository and then processed into doré bars. The enterprise released its first batch of doré bars in May.
Reaching full production capacity will allow the factory to process 72,000 tons a year, resulting in a monthly output of 20.8 kilograms of the doré alloy, or around 250 kilograms of gold annually. The produced gold will be purchased by Tau-Ken Altyn Refinery, a subsidiary of Tau-Ken Samruk, which is part of the Samruk-Kazyna state fund.
BASS Gold, formerly known as Forpost, is authorized for mining operations at the Ushshoky deposit in Ulytau and the Chinasyl-sai deposit in the Almaty region.
The net loss amounted to $535,639.34 in January-March 2024, a worse result compared to the same period in 2023 when the profit reached $2,924.71. The gross loss was $15,668.08, and the operational loss was $181,540.79. BASS Gold’s assets increased by 5.6%, amounting to $16,085,892.82; bonds rose by 10.7% to $14,205,723.53; and own capital decreased by a quarter to $1,735,396.26.
Last fall, the company increased its authorized capital through a property deposit, first by $498,035.95, making it $638,421.93 in total, and then raising it again to $660,775.05. Moreover, BASS Holding, owned by Chingiz Sadvakassov and Yerlan Tasbulatov, became the sole owner of the company.
Chingiz Sadvakassov has worked for various organizations over the years, including the Ministry of Finance, KazMunayGas structures, Deloitte and Ernst & Young audit companies, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), as well as several oil and uranium companies. According to some sources, Mr. Sadvakassov held various management positions at the National Company Food Contract Corporation from 2011 to 2022. In the spring of 2023, he appeared in KASE documents as a member of the Forpost company.
Yerlan Tasbulatov is referred to as one of the founders and the CEO of the enterprise. He also owns the ERTAS17 commercial company in Almaty. No other open-source information about Mr. Tasbulatov is available.
