Copper and platinum group metals miner Ivanhoe Mines has reported the discovery of outcropping copper mineralisation in Kazakhstan’s Chu-Sarysu basin, one of the world’s largest and least-explored sediment-hosted copper districts.

The find comes less than a year after the Canadian miner entered a joint venture (JV) with UK-based Pallas Resources to secure exploration rights over a 16 000 km² land package in the basin.

Executive co-chairman Robert Friedland and CEO Marna Cloete said fieldwork on the Merke licence in the south of the basin had uncovered visible malachite, azurite and chalcocite in a 20-m-thick horizon. Multiple surface samples returned between 1% and 5% copper.

While the mineralisation was not considered an economic deposit in isolation, the results supported the theory that copper in the basin was structurally controlled, with faults and fractures acting as conduits for mineralising fluids into folded carbonate rocks. Follow-up work would focus on mapping these structures, supported by high-resolution magnetic surveys.

A historical pit on the Merke licence reveals similar mineralisation, reinforcing Ivanhoe’s view that the discovery provides a “very strong framework for future targeting".

At the same time, the JV has begun a 15 000-m drill programme at the Glubokoe licence in the western Chu-Sarysu basin, hundreds of kilometres north of Merke. The first drill hole is targeting extensions of copper intervals first intersected by Soviet geologists in the 1980s. Ivanhoe expects the initial holes, between 800 m and 1 000 m deep, will help calibrate historic data with new geophysical results to refine models for the broader campaign.

The Chu-Sarysu basin is regarded as the world’s third-largest sediment-hosted copper belt, behind the Central African Copperbelt and Europe’s Kupferschiefer. It already hosts the Dzhezkazgan deposit, mined for more than a century, and the US Geological Survey estimates another 25-million tonnes of copper remain undiscovered.

Exploration in Kazakhstan has been limited in recent decades, averaging about $100-million a year over the past 15 years, according to S&P Global data. However, activity is now accelerating as regulatory processes for licences have been streamlined and historic Soviet datasets become more widely available.

For Ivanhoe, the venture with Pallas is a way to leverage both partners’ strengths. Pallas holds a first-mover advantage in Kazakhstan, along with historical datasets, while Ivanhoe brings its record of finding large-scale copper deposits. Under the agreement, Ivanhoe will sole-fund up to $18.7-million of exploration in the first two years, with an option to earn up to 80% across seven projects for a maximum of $115-million over four years.

Kazakhstan is already the world’s top uranium producer and a major supplier of copper, zinc and chromite. Mining accounts for roughly 14% of GDP and nearly a fifth of exports. With low labour and energy costs, the country is seen by mining executives as a cost-competitive jurisdiction – though one still underexplored compared with peers.