Over the past year, mining of copper ore rose by 8.2% YoY, to 103.2 million tons.
The country produced 12.9 million tons of copper concentrates (+15.7%), 4.8 million tons of copper-zinc ores (-4.2%), and 580.6 thousand tons of copper in copper concentrate (+15.5%).
The main copper ore miners are East Kazakhstan (37% of the total production in the country), Pavlodar (30%) and Karaganda (28%) regions.
In 2018, production of refined copper and copper alloys reached 442.6 thousand tons, up by 3% YoY. The top producing regions were Karaganda region (76% of the country’s total output) and East Kazakhstan region (21%). Kazakhmys operates in Karaganda region – about forty industrial facilities of the company operate in Karaganda, Satpayev, Zhezkazkan, and Balkhash.
In January-November 2018, exports of refined copper and copper alloys decreased by 4.2% in volume but grew by 5.1% in monetary terms.
Among the CIS countries, Ukraine still remains the main importer of Kazakhstan’s copper. The other importing countries include China, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Exports of copper-mine tailings and copper scrap increased by nearly 57% in volume, while in monetary terms they dropped by almost 19%. The key importer of copper-mine tailings and copper scrap is Russia.
Kazakhstan’s supplies of copper wire to international markets decreased by 44.3% in volume and by 36.8% in monetary terms. Everything is imported by Russia. (Trend/Ukrainian metal)