Altyntau Kokshetau, a gold mining company part of the Kazzinc holding (majority-owned by international trader Glencore), plans to earn $4.4 billion in revenue from developing the Vasilkovskoye gold deposit in the Zerendinsky district of Akmola Region in the coming years. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
This follows from the mining plan (PGP) and other project documentation submitted by the company for public hearings in November, Qazba.kz reports. "In the PGP table for key indicators of the underground project, capital costs without risk are calculated at $802 million, and its revenues at $4.4 billion with a net cash flow of $951 million. Although it is possible that a rather conservative precious metal price was included in the profitability, taking into account the volume of commercial products at 40.5 tonnes, which amounts to 1.3 million troy ounces," the publication says.
The company expects to mine the Vasilkovskoye deposit, located 17 km from the center of Akmola Region – the city of Kokshetau – underground for 17 years. In addition to gold, the subsoil area contains associated elements such as bismuth, selenium, tellurium, silver, arsenic and uranium.
Extraction of commercial ore in the mine will begin in 2027 with a volume of 7 thousand tonnes at a gold content of 1.45 grams per tonne. It is expected to grow to 104 thousand tonnes in 2028, to 1 million tonnes in 2029, to 1.7 million tonnes in 2030, to 2.4 million tonnes in 2031, and to 2.5 million tonnes in 2033. After that, the planned production level will begin to decline from 2.4 million tonnes in 2034-2035 to 2 million tonnes in 2036, 1.7 million tonnes in 2038, 1.3 million tonnes in 2039, 827 thousand tonnes in 2040, 283 thousand tonnes in 2041 and 76 thousand tonnes in 2042. At the same time, the gold content over the covered period will vary in the range of 1.37 – 3.21 grams per tonne, or an average of 2.39 grams per tonne.
The PGP table on revenue from the sale of commercial products states that over the entire period of the underground project, 22.4 million tonnes of ore will be mined, yielding 40.5 tonnes of commercial products. However, another table in the calendar schedule of ore and metal extraction indicates that the amount of metal in 22.4 million tonnes is planned at 53.6 tonnes. It can be assumed that gold recovery in this area of the mine's activity will be slightly more than 75%, i.e., about 13.2 tonnes with a content of 0.59 grams per tonne will remain in the tailings from underground mining, according to the calculations of ore processing balances by year. On average, commercial gold production by underground method at Vasilkovskoye will range from two to five tonnes annually in 2029-2039.
The PGP includes an assessment of the deposit's mineral resources as of early 2025 according to the KAZRC standard. Thus, for the entire deposit, measured mineral resources of gold are accounted for at 26.1 tonnes, indicated – 116.9 tonnes and inferred 47.4 tonnes, which together amounts to 190.4 tonnes. For open-pit mining, mineral resources are estimated in the "measured" category – 19.4 tonnes, "indicated" – 39.9 tonnes and "inferred" – 17.5 tonnes. For underground mining, these figures differ significantly – 6.7 tonnes, 77 tonnes and 29.8 tonnes, respectively. By the way, this PGP also designates the mineral reserves accepted for state accounting of the mine's off-balance sheet warehouse: indicated – 17.3 tonnes and inferred — 9.4 tonnes, as well as stockpiles of the heap leaching site (HLV): indicated – 3.8 tonnes and inferred – 6 tonnes. Currently, 47.5 million tonnes of ore and 27.2 tonnes of gold with an average content of 0.57 grams per tonne are stored at the off-balance ore warehouse, the plan specifies.
The subsoil use contract for Vasilkovskoye was extended until the end of 2033, taking into account the tenth amendment in April 2026. In 2025, a mining plan was developed for the open-pit mining of the Vasilkovskoye deposit, according to which the pit depth is envisaged to a level of 667 meters. In addition, a project for the development of heap and off-balance ores at the mine was also prepared. Both passed the necessary approvals in government agencies. As a result, the combined project provides for the development of pit reserves, as well as heap, off-balance ores and sorption tailings within a single mining plan.
In 2027-2034, it is planned to develop the pit, and all other points – until 2045 inclusive. The pit's productivity will be up to 8.5-8.6 million tonnes of ore per year.
According to Kazzinc's financial statements for 2025, at the end of last year the main co-owner of the mining company was Swiss Glencore International AG with 69.74%, and another 29.82% stake belonged to the national company "NGK "Tau-Ken Samruk" (a subsidiary of "Samruk-Kazyna").
Kazzinc brought its co-owners, including Swiss trader Glencore, which owns 70% of the zinc giant, $771.3 million in profit for 2025, according to the financial statements. Year on year, profit increased by 67%.
This year, the possible sale of Glencore's stake in Kazzinc was actively discussed in the market. According to Bloomberg, among the potential participants in the deal is Kazakh businessman Shakhmarat Mutalip, who allegedly considered the possibility of acquiring Glencore's stake. The value of the possible deal was estimated at $3.5 billion.
Tau-Ken Samruk, in turn, stated in January 2026 that they do not intend to get rid of their stake in Kazzinc.
It is noteworthy that in January 2026 it became known that entrepreneur Mutalip registered two new structures in the AIFC – KazZinc Group Ltd and Central Asia Resources Holding Ltd. At the same time, there has still been no official confirmation of the deal on Kazzinc.
Shakhmarat Mutalip is the owner of the construction company Integra Construction KZ, president of the Boxing Federation of Kazakhstan since 2024 and vice-president of the NOC of Kazakhstan since 2025. Mutalip ranks 22nd in the list of the richest Kazakhstanis according to Forbes with a fortune of $482 million.