Kazakhstan starts building Aktogay copper smelter with 300,000-tonne annual capacityPresident Kassym-Jomart Tokayev launched construction of a copper smelter in the village of Aktogay in the Abai region by video link on Tuesday, his press office said.Tokayev called the project one of the most important for the country and said it would give new momentum to the economy.“The new plant will have a capacity of 300,000 tonnes of cathode copper a year,” Tokayev said, according to the statement. “That will fully cover domestic demand. Once the plant opens, Kazakhstan will join the world’s top 10 producers of high-quality refined copper. The plant will also produce gold and sulfuric acid. A project on this scale will make a significant contribution to the development of our metallurgy industry.”He set the plant’s shareholders several tasks.“All legitimate social needs of the workers must be met. . . . The government and local authorities must keep close ties with labor collectives and work actively in line with the ‘Law and Order’ concept,” Tokayev said.He also urged the company to make wide use of digital technology and artificial intelligence in industry.“Advanced solutions help raise productivity, improve workplace safety and effectively prevent industrial injuries. . . . It is important to factor that in while building the plant,” he said.Tokayev said Kazakhstan has more than 9,500 deposits, mines about 160 million tonnes of ore a year and produces about 3.5 million tonnes of copper concentrate.The Abai regional administration said KAZ Minerals Smelting is the project’s customer. China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. (NFC) is responsible for design and procurement of process equipment, and NFC Kazakhstan is the contractor for construction and commissioning.The smelter will be fed with copper concentrate from the Bozshakol and Aktogay mining and processing complexes and from concentrators operated by Vostoktsvetmet.The project will create a cluster that combines one of the world’s largest copper mines with a modern smelter. The preliminary cost of the project was estimated at $1.5 billion.KAZ Minerals is one of Kazakhstan’s leading copper producers. It operates open-pit mines at Aktogay in eastern Kazakhstan and Bozshakol in the Pavlodar region, three underground mines and their concentrators in eastern Kazakhstan, and the Bozymchak copper-gold mine in Kyrgyzstan.NFC is a state-controlled Chinese company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. It was the lead contractor on KAZ Minerals’ Bozshakol, Aktogay and Bozymchak projects. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX