British gold miner’s subsidiary secures lease on former nuclear test site in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov has signed a government decree granting Altyn Group Qazaqstan, a subsidiary of the British A Gold Plc, a temporary lease on a 71.37-hectare plot within the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. The company plans to expand gold mining operations in the Abay region, where the test site is located.

The cabinet resolution, obtained by Kursiv.media, states:

«Transfer the 71.37-hectare land plot from the category of reserve lands within the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in the Abay region to the category of lands designated for industry, transport, communications, space exploration, defense, national security, nuclear safety and other non-agricultural purposes. […] Grant Altyn Group Qazaqstan (Altyn Group Kazakhstan) temporary compensated land-use rights (lease) […] until Dec. 31, 2028, for the development of the Ulken Karashoky deposit, as outlined in the appendix to this decree.»

As part of the arrangement, Altyn Group Qazaqstan must compensate the national budget for agricultural losses resulting from the land’s reclassification. In late 2024, the company announced plans to upgrade its processing plant in the Abay region to extract copper and gold not only from commercial ore at the deposit but also from a tailings facility.

The plant produces gold-copper concentrate, but significant amounts of metal remain in the tailings dam. To address this, the company has launched a special experimental site. The two-stage process at the site will involve:

• Sulfuric acid processing to extract copper.
• Sodium cyanide treatment to extract gold and silver into a doré alloy (containing more than 70% gold and silver).

The site was originally scheduled to open in January 2025, with processed materials set to be delivered to a processing plant in Kurchatov in the Abay region.

In early 2024, Altyn Group Qazaqstan announced plans to establish a new tailings storage facility (TSF) adjacent to the existing TSF of the Ulba Metallurgical Plant, a Kazatomprom subsidiary, and its own mobile processing plant. The company planned to store 51,000 tons of waste at the new facility. Metal mining at the TSF was expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025 and continue through 2027.

Additionally, Altyn Group Qazaqstan planned to begin gold ore mining at the Ulken Karashoky deposit in the Abay region (with a design capacity of 500,000 tons per year by 2028) and gold-silver ore mining at the Mailykara deposit in the Pavlodar region. The Mailykara deposit is located within the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. The company intended to develop the mine site by 2028. In 1999, it received a contract for the exploration and extraction of precious metals (silver, gold and platinum) and nonferrous metals (copper, lead and zinc) within the Naimanjal zone, spanning the Pavlodar, Karaganda and East Kazakhstan regions. The mining allotment covers 1.18 square kilometers (118 hectares). Both deposits (Ulken Karashoky and Mailykara) are within this zone.

Altyn Group Qazaqstan reported a loss of approximately $367,000 in 2022 (more recent financial statements are unavailable), compared with a loss of $100,700 in 2021. The company’s total assets increased to nearly $5.2 million at the end of 2022, from $3.7 million a year earlier. Altyn Group Qazaqstan, registered in Kurchatov in the Abay region, is owned by A Gold Plc, a British company registered in the Cayman Islands. The company’s CEO is Yeraly Syrbai, and its listed activity is precious and rare metal ore extraction.

This year marks 34 years since the decree closing the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. Over 40 years, 468 nuclear tests were conducted there. Kazakhstani citizens affected by the tests receive monthly compensation.