Zhetisu Volframy, a company owned by Chinese investors and engaged in tungsten ore mining at the Bogutinskoye deposit in Almaty region, posted a profit of 11.1 billion tenge in 2025, compared to a loss of 5.1 billion tenge in 2024. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The tungsten producer's revenue in 2025 reached 71.1 billion tenge (in 2024 it was absent entirely). The company is headed by Xie Wenbo. As of end-2025, the company's retained earnings amounted to 195.6 million tenge, versus an accumulated loss of 10.9 billion tenge at end-2024.
According to the financial statements, as of end-2025, 97% of Zhetisu Volframy's shares were owned by Aral Kegen. The co-owners of Aral Kegen are Liu Lichian (0.01%) and Jiaxian International Resources Investment S.a.r.l. (Luxembourg, 99.99%). The parent company of Jiaxian International Resources Investment S.a.r.l. is Jiaxian International Resources Investment Ltd. (Hong Kong, PRC). At the time of publication, the co-owners are the same persons.
Zhetisu Volframy is registered in the village of Nura, Enbekshikazakh district, Almaty region. The company commenced commercial production and sales of tungsten products in the second quarter of 2025. The company holds a contract for the extraction of tungsten ores at the Bogutinskoye deposit dated June 2, 2015. The document, including amendments, is valid until 2040.
Earlier, the company completed the construction of a mining and processing complex for the production of tungsten concentrate. As of end-2025, the company employed 335 people, compared to 288 a year earlier. In 2024, the company concluded an addendum to the extraction contract, under which the start of extraction was postponed from 2024 to 2025.
In accordance with a memorandum with the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development (now the Ministry of Industry and Construction), the company committed to invest $450 million in the development of the Bogutinskoye deposit, including $330 million in the construction of a mining and processing plant producing 65% tungsten concentrate, $20 million in the modernization of capacities, which should increase the enterprise's capacity to 4.5 million tons per year in the second year after the plant's commissioning, and $100 million in deep processing of the 65% concentrate into ammonium paratungstate, depending on the economic feasibility of this process.
The company planned to modernize equipment in 2025-2026 and commission a factory for the production of ammonium paratungstate in 2026-2028. On the first day of trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, shares of Jiaxin International Resources Investment (Jiaxin), which mines tungsten in Kazakhstan, rose by 159.9% after the IPO.
Tungsten is used in the production of durable and high-speed tool steels, as well as superhard alloys used for drilling wells and metal processing. Tungsten is used to make filaments and heating coils in lamps, non-consumable electrodes for argon-arc welding, as well as cathodes and parts of X-ray tubes. The metal is used as a heating element and thermal shield in high-temperature vacuum furnaces capable of heating up to 3000°C. Additionally, tungsten is used to make armor-piercing projectiles, tank armor, counterweights and stabilizers in rockets, and other products.
Besides China, the United States is becoming a major player in the tungsten mining market in Kazakhstan. The US and the European Union are trying to reshape the existing situation regarding so-called critical minerals, 80% of whose exports historically came from China. In this regard, American and European companies are conducting projects that will give them the opportunity to mine such metals in Kazakhstan.
For example, Cove Kaz Capital Group LLC in May 2026 completed a deal to purchase a 70% stake in the charter capital of the Kazakh company Severny Katpar (part of Samruk-Kazyna), which was developing the tungsten deposit of the same name. This company is linked to the sons of US President Donald Trump – Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. The deal, which began on February 13, 2026, was valued at $114.8 million, as reported in the financial statements of the national company Tau-Ken Samruk (a subsidiary of Samruk-Kazyna) for 2025.