The American company Cove Capital and the Kazakh Tau-Ken Samruk will jointly develop the Northern Katpar and Upper Kairakty deposits in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan.
These are some of the largest undeveloped tungsten deposits in the world. The Kazakh state investment holding Samruk-Kazyna estimates total tungsten reserves at 410 thousand tons.
As part of the agreement concluded on the sidelines of the C5+1 summit in Washington, the companies will create a joint venture. Cove Capital will control 70% of it. The total investment is estimated at $1.1 billion, of which $900 million can be provided by the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Currently, preparatory work is underway to complete the feasibility study (FEA) for the North Katpar project. The Feasibility Study involves the creation of primary tungsten processing facilities in Kazakhstan. The facility will produce ammonium paratungstate, which is used in the production of specialized tungsten products, including powders and wear-resistant parts.
This is not the only project being implemented by Cove Capital in Kazakhstan. The company is also exploring for rare and rare earth metals at the Gremyachinsky site in the Ulan district of the East Kazakhstan region and at the Akbulak site in the Kostanay region. The latter project is being implemented jointly with Kazgeology (a subsidiary of Tau-Ken Samruk). (Minprom)