Posted on 04/10/2025 5:13:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A significant rare earth elements deposit has been found in Kazakhstan's Karagandy, with potential reserves of 20 million tonnes. Further exploration is required. On the eve of the EU-Central Asian Summit in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan announced the discovery of a large deposit of rare earth elements.
The find was made in Karagandy, the central region of Kazakhstan.
Now dubbed "New Kazakhstan," the deposit is said to have almost 1 million tonnes of cerium, lanthanum, neodymium and yttrium, elements used as components in devices such as smartphones, digital cameras and computer hard disks.
“Four prospective areas have been identified within the site with total estimated rare earth reserves reaching 935,400 tonnes," said the spokesperson for Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Industry and Construction.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the total reserves at the "New Kazakhstan" site could reach up to 20 million tonnes at a depth of 300 meters, with an average rare earth content of 700 grams per tonne.
If confirmed, this would place Kazakhstan among the world’s top three countries in terms of rare earth reserves.
However, experts have called for caution.
Georgiy Freiman, the executive committee chair of the Professional Association of Independent Mining Experts (PONEN), said things were still at an early stage.
“In order to call it a deposit, you, first, need to fully study all the elements in the area with mineralisation,” he said, stressing that more exploratory work is required.
“You need to study hydrogeology, geomechanics, as well as assess the feasibility of extraction and in what form they can be extracted. You need to conduct an economic assessment, taking into account the market situation, the needs of relevant industries," he added.
"Only when all these factors are analysed, and an economic model is developed can it truly be called a deposit. Without that, it remains mere speculation.”
Exploration of the site began in 2022, with findings reported to the Kazakh government in October 2024.
Analysts said the timing of the public announcement — just before the EU-Central Asia Summit — was strategic.
During the summit, the EU announced its intention to deepen cooperation with Kazakhstan, endorsing a new Roadmap for 2025–2026, which envisages “enhanced cooperation on geological exploration, research and innovation".
“The announcement was well timed because it increased the importance of Kazakhstan in the whole discussion about the critical raw materials," said Aleška Simkić, the EU's ambassador to Kazakhstan.
"I think it succeeded in putting Kazakhstan on the map for EU," she added, before saying that there were "still some challenges" ahead for the mining of rare earth minerals in the Central Asian country.
What’s next?
According to the exploration company that made the initial discovery, developing the site could take up to six years and could require around $10 million (€9.03m) in investment.
Arthur Poliakov, the executive chairman of the MINEX Forum, believes that it will take between 10 and 12 years for any ore to be extracted.
Kazakhstan currently lacks the necessary technologies for deep processing of rare earth elements and will need the support of foreign partners.
Poliakov noted that China is likely to be involved in this process as they are the biggest consumer of rare earth metals and the largest producer of commodities made using them, including batteries and solar panels.
“The second player will probably be the European Union. Why? Because the green agenda, green technology, everything related to sustainable development of sustainable energy resources is a priority there," Poliakov said.
"The main problem is logistics. The EU and Kazakhstan are far apart, which is why they need to develop the Middle Corridor,” he added.
For now, it is thought that Kazakhstan’s national mining company Tau-Ken Samruk will take the lead on the next stage of development.
This includes pre-investment work such as additional geological studies, technology selection and feasibility assessments.
“We are looking at two options: an auction or a local company. There’s the Tau-Ken Samruk national company, which engages in developing deposits. The decision has not been made yet,” said Almas Kushumov, director of the Department of Subsoil Use at the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Construction.
So who owns Kazakhstan?
All I remember from Kazakhstan is camels. And vodka.
World’s #1 exporter of potassium....
Borat.........
Funny, I don’t remember any bananas there but good for them!
These “rare earths” don’t seem to be very rare anymore...
Russia covers its northern border, and China is on the east side. Which one will get it?
The U.S. was the first country to recognize them. They have been friendly with the U.S. Because of where they are, they are pretty much obligated to be friends with China and Russia.
Rare earth minerals are actually not that rare.
They are more common than e.g. antimony, cadmium, indium or mercury.
Not even talking about gold or platinum!
Their biggest problem is that they are not found in high concentrations and processing them is tricky.
US used to have virtual monopoly on them, but we let it slip and China took over.
Our problem with them, like usual, are these environmentalists!
They just hate all mining, especially in California. And that’s were these elements are in the US.
“These “rare earths” don’t seem to be very rare anymore...”
They are not rare. That’s a misnomer. The US has plenty, but the mines have been shut down by the EPA. The problem is they are refined by using various extremely caustic acids. The acids used to be dumped on the ground or held in retention ponds. The processing and mining have been greatly cleaned up. But the various EPA’s, state, federal, county and sometime city, all are hell bend that it won’t happen in their back yards.
China has zero environmental regulations. So all the mined minerals went there for processing.
My thoughts, exactly.
Kazakhstan does have some hot chicks.
The US also removed the hated Soviet era nukes soon after they declared independence.
They produced Evgeny Nabokov, a pretty good NHL goalie.
Supposedly they have cities that are a big tourist draw. I think one was Astana.
Now hold on. I thought Nabokov was the name of the chess player the kid on Seinfeld claimed was his favorite. Never did find out what country he was supposed to be from LOL.
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