The total income from the sale of gold in 2022-2023 at Kumtor amounted to $1,835 billion, President of Kumtor Gold Company Almazbek Baryktabasov announced at the International Forum MINEX Central Asia 2024.
He spoke at the plenary session “Unlocking Mineral Resources Potential — Leading Role of Mining Industry Leaders and International Investors”.
The head of Kumtor Gold Company noted that to date there were no sectors of the world economy, where precious metals mined by enterprises represented at the forum were not used.
He spoke about the results the company had achieved over the past three years. Thus, the volume of gold production in 2022-2023 at the Kumtor mine amounted to 30.8 tons. At the same time, the enterprise transferred $583,785 million, or 49.4 billion soms, to the budget and Social Fund.
The company’s net profit amounted to $674.2 million. In 2022, $140 million in dividends were paid; based on the results of last year’s work this amount will be $151.3 million.
It is planned to produce 12.5 tons of gold at Kumtor in 2024.
Almazbek Baryktabasov also spoke about innovations in the work of the mine. Currently, an automated system for accounting of fuel and lubricants and cost optimization has been introduced there. Thanks to this, $17 million has been saved in 2023.
“A large oil filling complex is being built in Balykchy. A two-month supply of fuel for the mine’s needs will be stored there. This is extremely important in the event of force majeure, given that the company is the largest consumer of diesel fuel in the republic. In addition, last year the mine commissioned two new tower mills and more modern leaching vats. This will make it possible to extract up to 12,000 ounces of gold per year additionally,” the head of the company said.
He emphasized that the company was developing and was constantly working on the implementation of new projects. In 2023, it began developing the Togolok gold deposit with reserves of 17 tons. In addition, geological exploration of Dzhangart area has begun. Both sites are located 200 kilometers from Kumtor mine.
A few months ago, the project was launched to extract gold-bearing ore from the mine by underground mining. Thanks to this it is planned to extract 115 tons of precious metal.
“In the near future, we also intend to begin extracting gold from waste ore located in the mine’s tailings. According to experts, implementation of the project will allow to extract about 55-65 percent more gold. As a result, a little more than half of the total reserve of 120 tons will be extracted,” Almazbek Baryktabasov concluded. (24.kg)