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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kazakstan
Index
Soviet geologists once boasted that Kazakstan was capable of exporting
the entire Periodic Table of Elements. During the Soviet period, Kazakstan
supplied about 7 percent of the union's gold, or about twenty-four tons
per year. Since independence, the republic has attracted large foreign
partners to develop existing or new mines. President Nazarbayev announced
intentions to increase annual gold production to fifty or sixty tons by
1995 or 1996.
In 1989 the mines of Kazakstan yielded 23.8 million tons of iron ore
and 151,900 tons of manganese. The republic also possesses deposits of
uranium, chrome, titanium, nickel, wolfram, silver, molybdenum, bauxite,
and copper. Major phosphate mines feed fertilizer plants in the southern
city of Zhambyl. Three major coal fields--Torghay, Qaraghandy, and
Ekibastuz--produced 140 million tons of hard coal in 1991, but by 1994
Kazakstan's national total had dropped to 104 million tons.
In the mid-1990s, all minerals in Kazakstan belonged to the republic.
Authority for decisions concerning their development was delegated to the
prime minister, provided that these decisions were consistent with laws on
natural resource development. The fundamental law "On Natural
Resources and the Development of Mineral Resources" was passed in May
1992, but its treatment of foreign development of minerals is limited to
two brief paragraphs stipulating that foreign development be conducted in
accordance with international and national law.
Data as of March 1996
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