Kyrgyzstan begins mining gold at Kumtor deposit after nationalisation
BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday began underground gold mining at Kumtor, one of the largest deposits in Central Asia, which the government said could hold as many as 147 metric tons of gold reserves.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, a populist and nationalist, nationalised the mine in 2021, taking it over from Canada's Centerra Gold following years of litigation. It has since brought in $3.4-billion for the government.
In a statement, Japarov's press service said about 1 600 m of tunnels had been dug in Kumtor so far.
"The underground project is expected to operate for 17 years, and geological reserves of 147 tons of gold have been added to the state balance sheet," it said.
It did not give a monetary value for this, but gold has recently been trading at record highs above $3 000 a troy ounce.
Kyrgyzstan also plans to start processing the Kumtor tailings pond, which contains more than 100 tons of gold, according to the government.
Located in eastern Kyrgyzstan some 50 km from the Chinese border, Kumtor was developed by Centerra Gold, which began mining there in 1997.
Kyrgyzstan cut production at the Kumtor deposit to 12.6 tons last year from 13.6 tons in 2023.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation