Yevgeny Shashkov
Editor-in-chief, Eurasian Metals

DEAR READERS!

Now you have the latest issue of Eurasian Metals in front of you. This time it is entirely devoted to the Republic of Kazakhstan and its mining-and metallurgical complex. We have taken this extremely significant step because processes on post-Soviet space and in Kazakhstan in particular are attracting the close attention of politicians and businessmen all over the world. In the last three years the annual growth rates of Kazakhstan’s GDP averaged 11% and, as a result, the republic became one of ten countries with the fastest developing market economies in the world. It is noteworthy that Kazakhstan’s private sector accounts for 75 % of its GDP. The republic possesses the richest base of mineral raw materials. The potential value of recoverable resources is estimated at about $9 trillion.
The mining-and-metallurgical sector is Kazakhstan’s traditional industry. Essentially conservative, the industry is now having an extraordinary revival. To a large extent this is linked to the participation in the republic of prominent international enterprises such as Glencore, Samsung and Ispat International. They provided Kazakhstan’s mining-and-metallurgical complex not only with investments but with the advanced management skill as well.
Relations with foreign partners, prospects for development of the national economy and the industrial policy that are being examined on our pages by the president of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, other senior state officials, CEOs of both the public and private sectors, heads of regional administrations. Their views are accompanied by reports from our correspondents, who visited Kazakhstan’s largest metallurgical enterprises. And we wish to express our appreciation to the Kazakhstan presidential press department as well as to the owners and management of national enterprises for making this trip possible.
    We hope our readers will benefit from our extensive and exclusive coverage of Kazakhstan’s mining-and-metallurgical complex. In the near future we are planning to dedicate other special issues to the CIS, including Uzbekistan, Ukraine, the Caucasus and Russia’s vast and immensely wealthy Siberia...

We look forward to receiving your comments

Kazakhstan is situated in Central Asia, deep in the Eurasian continent.
Its territory is as large as 2,724,900 sq km (i.e. 1,049,150 sq miles). In terms of the area it is the second largest among the CIS states. In fact the territory of Kazakhstan exceeds that occupied by twelve countries of the European Union.
The territory of the Republic stretches on from the low reaches of the Volga in the West to the foothills of the Altai mountains in the East – for some 3,000 km ( a distance that spans two time zones), from West Siberian lowland in the North to the desert of Kyzylkum and the mountain range of Tien Shan in the South for some 2,000 km.
The population numbers some 14,841,900 people (01.01.2001). Population density is as high as 5,5 people per 1 sq km.
The capital is the city of Astana (since December 10, 1997) whose population is as large as 500,000 people.
In terms of the number of the population cities of Kazakhstan may be subdivided into several categories:
– those having 300-400 thou. residents (Karagandy, Shymkent, Pavlodar, Taraz, Ust-Kamenogorsk);
– those with 200-280 thou. residents (Uralsk, Temirtau, Kostanay, Aktobe, Petropavlovsk, Semipalatinsk);
– those with 110-160 thousand residents (Zhezkazgan, Yekibastuz, Kyzylorda, Aktau, Kokshetau, Atyrau).
Most numerous are cities numbering less than 50,000 residents.
Kazakhstan is rich with commercial minerals. In terms of chromium, vanadium, bismuth and fluorine reserves Kazakhstan knows no second in the world while in resources of iron, chromite, lead, zink, tungsten, molybdenum, phosphorite, copper, potassium and cadmium the country holds one of the leading places.
On the territory of the country they have discovered nearly 160 deposits of oil and gas. Their reserves – known to this day – are approximately equal to present day resources of the whole of the Western Europe. These oil and gas fields contain about 20,000,000,000 barrels of oil and 700,000,000 ton of gas condensate. Sum total of the cost thereof is estimated in the region of $ 4B. The Tenghiz field only ranks as one of the largest deposits of the world.
Coal reserves in Kazakhstan reach 160,000,000,000 ton. The Republic numbers 10 coal fields of bituminous and brown coal, 155 deposits all in all.
Iron ore resources (containing 50-60 % of pure iron) in the Republic surpass those of many a country in the world.
Kazakhstan is the second richest country in the world (after Russia) with regard to phosphorite reserves while phosphorite deposits of Zhanatas and Karatau in terms of thickness and quality are second to none in the world.
Kazakhstan holds one of the first places in the world as to the production of aluminium.
The Republic harbours uncommonly superb resources of copper ore. Zhezkazgan ore deposits are second largest in the world as to their potential.
The territory of Kazakhstan affords infinite resources of salt and construction materials.
The already prospected deposits serve a fine basis for the development of mining, coal-mining, metallurgy, oil-and-gas and chemical industries.
Kazakhstan’s share in world output of commercial minerals and products of procession thereof (according to estimates of the Union Bank of Switzerland) in the days of the late USSR amounted to the following: Beryllium – 24 %, Zink – 7 %, Tantalum – 33 %, Titanium – 26 %, Chromite – 27 %, Copper – 3 %, Barite – 7 %, Molybdenum – 3%, Lead – 7 %, Bauxites – 1 %, Uranium – 14 %, Manganese – 5 %, Silver – 6 %, Iron ore – 2 %, Tungsten – 12 %, Gold – 1 %.