A group illegally mining gold has been detained in East Kazakhstan region. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
According to the Financial Monitoring Agency, the suspects were mining gold-bearing ore without proper permits near the village of Akbulak in the Markakol district. They caused significant environmental damage: the fertile soil layer was damaged, the natural terrain was disrupted, and the riverbed was altered.
The illegal operations were carried out on a total area of 30 hectares using heavy machinery and processing complexes. More than 30 people were involved in the illegal activity, including citizens of the People's Republic of China.
During searches, six 40-ton trucks, four tracked excavators, one loader, and two processing complexes for extracting and washing gold-bearing ore were seized. Currently, investigative actions are ongoing regarding this incident.