East Kaz Alloys plans to conduct geological exploration for chromium ore at the Saburkhan-3 site in the Zharma district of Kazakhstan’s Abai region.
“The site is located 160 kilometers southeast of the regional center, Semey, and 9 kilometers from the district center, the village of Kalbatau… The work will focus on chromium exploration within the Charsky ultramafic belt,” according to planning documents reviewed by Kursiv.media.
Exploration plan
The exploration area covers 49 blocks totaling 59.9 square kilometers. East Kaz Alloys received its exploration license on Nov. 4, 2022.
The company plans to excavate 16 exploration trenches spaced 400 to 800 meters apart. Each trench will be up to 50 meters long, 0.8 meters wide and 2 meters deep, with a combined excavation volume of 1,280 cubic meters.
The project also includes drilling wells 100 to 300 meters deep, for a total drilling length of 3,800 meters.
“Drilling will be conducted at promising sites to trace known ore zones and assess their mineralization at depth, as well as to evaluate newly identified geophysical anomalies,” the planning document states.
Environmental considerations
The area’s surface water reportedly consists primarily of intermittent rivers located near the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.
“Considering that the surface waters in the study area are represented by rivers (mostly intermittent) located in close proximity to the nuclear test site (Lake Shagan is the most contaminated body of water), environmental studies have been conducted by numerous scientific teams and described in detail in publicly available publications,” the document states.
Ownership
Baglan Koshanov serves as director of East Kaz Alloys. The company is jointly owned by the Dutch firms Yilmaden Holding B.V., led by Ozturk Evren, and Swed Alloys Holding B.V.
The contact information published for East Kaz Alloys’ public hearings includes an email address associated with the Turkish Yildirim Group, which is involved in several mining projects in Kazakhstan.
Kazchrome, one of the flagship companies of the ERG Group, is Kazakhstan’s largest producer and processor of chromium ore.
