President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov on August 27 took part in an event dedicated to the launch of the underground gold-mining project at Kumtor Gold Company.
The head of state noted that the return of Kumtor gold mine to state ownership was one of the most important events in the period of Kyrgyzstan’s renewal. Exactly three years ago, on August 23, 2022, the fate of Kumtor was completely decided in favor of Kyrgyzstan, and it was declared a 100% state-owned enterprise.
It is noted that underground gold mining has officially begun at Kumtor mine.
“The launch of the underground gold mining project at Kumtor is a major step in preserving the environment, our glaciers, which have survived to this day. In fact, this work should have started 20 years ago. However, a foreign company, instead of extracting gold from underground, colluded with the previous government and corrupt officials, preferring a cheaper and easier way to produce gold, and destroyed all the glaciers. Unfortunately, there is a black spot in history: the previous officials sacrificed the glaciers for the benefit of their personal pockets, not the state. We lost most of the well-known Davydov and Lysy glaciers. But we could not close our eyes to this situation, saying: “What’s done is done”. On the day of Kumtor’s return to the state, I immediately gave the order to begin the underground gold-mining project. And so, with the help of our own specialists, with our own efforts, the first ore began to be extracted from underground at Kumtor. Today, about 1,600 meters have been drilled into the ground, a tunnel has been made, and we are ready to obtain valuable ores with a gold content of more than 5 grams per ton,” Sadyr Japarov noted.
The underground mining project is planned for 17 years, with geological reserves of 147 tons of gold registered as state property.
First of all, the underground gold-mining project prevents excessive mining of waste rock. With open-pit mining, up to 60 tons of waste rock have to be mined to obtain one ton of valuable ore. This is a lot by world standards.
“Of course, at Kumtor, along with underground mining, gold will be mined by open-pit mining from previously developed quarries. However, preference will gradually be given to the underground gold mining project. God willing, Kumtor’s future is ahead of us, it will work for another 40-50 years in the interests of the country, in the interests of the people. When I say “in the interests of the people”, you are witnessing that over the past 3 years, state mortgage houses have been transferred to ordinary people. Know that all the money spent on these constructions is income from Kumtor. The roads being built, schools, kindergartens, the increase in wages, pensions and benefits, the purchase of military and other modern equipment – in a word, all the good things happening in the country are financed by money coming from Kumtor. When we say that Kumtor has mined so many tons of gold, received so many billions of dollars in profit, there are citizens who say: “Where is this money? We do not believe it because we do not see it” or “You are stealing”. They are used to stealing themselves. And then they see all people as the same as they are. The money that they stole has been working for the benefit of the people for the past 3 years. From now on, know that the people see the benefits of Kumtor. If it is said that Kumtor is profitable, rejoice from now on,” Sadyr Japarov added.
The head of state believes that if these works had been started at least 15 years ago, Kyrgyzstan would be completely different today.
“All villages, districts and cities would have been renovated, and the standard of living of the population would have reached a high level long ago. Now, so that my words are not empty, let me dwell on the success of recent years, when Kumtor was handed over to the people. The total income of the enterprise from May 2021 to date amounted to $3,445 billion. $ 891.6 million was paid to the state budget of the Kyrgyz Republic in the form of taxes and other payments. During this period, a total of more than 54 tons of gold were produced. For 28 years of exploitation of Kumtor by a foreign company, we were paid only $100 million in the form of share profit or dividends, and for 3 years that had passed since the transition to state ownership, we received $441 million in dividends. If $100 million in dividends were paid in 28 years, then in 3 years since we started working ourselves, we received $441 million in dividends. While back in 2012 (I hope you remember the years when they put us in jail?) instead of putting us in jail, we had taken over Kumtor, then since then more than $10 billion in income would have remained with us. Unfortunately, because of the corrupt officials of that time, hostile to the Kyrgyz state, because of the indifferent deputies of that time, we lost these funds. What is $10 billions? Had this money remained in our country, by now we would have become the “Switzerland of Central Asia”, as people say. With God’s help, it is not too late,” Sadyr Japarov added.
In addition to the underground gold-mining project, the head of the Kyrgyz Republic noted that the mine waste was being processed and more than 100 tons of gold would be extracted from it.
“In order to avoid danger in the future, we will also clean up the tailings pond. In addition, we have completely transferred Togolok deposit to Kumtor. Now work has begun on the development of Togolok gold mine. Geological exploration work in Zhangart area also successfully continues. Production at Kumtor and in the mining industry of our entire country has reached a new level and is a huge economic force for the prosperous future of our people. From now on, we will definitely use all the remaining minerals in the interests of Kyrgyzstan. Even when transferring to investors, the share and interests of Kyrgyzstan must be sufficiently preserved. Officials who, as before, will hand them over for their personal interests, for the benefit of their pockets, will not remain unpunished. Sooner or later they will definitely be held accountable. This especially concerns the Ministry of Nature and the geological industry,” Sadyr Japarov added. (24.kg)