Country Experience: Kazakhstan
Uranium
JSD was recently back in Kazakhstan to inspect and value two large in situ leach uranium mines: Semizbay and Irkol. These mines were accessed by road (several hours) from Astana (Semizbay) and Kyzylorda (Irkol). Fortunateley, the mines were visited in the warmer time of year - April - May 2014. These are significant U producers by world standards, and the roll front deposits are deep seated, at depths of 350 - 400 metres below surface.
plan of in situ injection & recovery wells close up on an injection well with electric pump cold ... even in summer
pumping and recovery control my accommodation mine office, treatment plant and ground rehabilitation
Gold
Eyre Resources NL (“Eyre”), an Australian registered company, formed, in the mid 1990's, a joint venture in the Republic of Kazakhstan with a Kazakh joint stock company, Marum Shar (“MZG”), with a view to developing the Zharkulak Gold Project.
At that time, the joint venture partners had completed heads of agreement and joint venture documentation, and Eyre was preparing for a public listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Discussions between the parties commenced in 1996, during which time Eyre made initial visits to Kazakhstan and to the project site.
Eyre requested John S Dunlop & Associates Pty. Ltd. (“JSD”) and Continental Resource Management Pty. Ltd. (“CRM”) to visit the project area again in October 1997, to progress discussions with the joint venture participants; to make a further detailed report on the preliminary feasibility of the project, as well as the nearby Donarchinskaya gold project; and to obtain, if possible, the technical data set for the project so as to enable a more detailed study to be prepared.
The project area in the Tien Shan, up to 5000m. A high altitude exploration drift
The project was accessed by helicopter from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.
JSD also looked at a project in far western Kazakstan, accessed from the regional centre of Aktubinsk. This visit involved an arduous trip across the tundra...
