The construction of a nickel plant in Kazakhstan may begin in the next quarter

The construction of a mining and processing enterprise for the extraction and processing of nickel ores in the eastern part of the Republic of Kazakhstan (not far from the former Semipalatinsk, now Semei city) may begin in the fourth quarter of this year. The management of the future plant plans to put into operation the objects of the first stage of the project by mid-2015 (after that the production capacity of the enterprise should be 2.5 thousand tons of nickel matte per year). The total annual output of GOKom products after the completion of construction of all the processing capacities of the plant will be 4000 tons.

The nickel plant will process the ore from the Gornostaevskoye deposit, which was purchased by the subsidiary structure of SAT & Company in the autumn of 2009. As a result of preliminary exploration, its reserves are about 170 thousand tons of nickel and more than 10 thousand tons of cobalt (in category C2). Owners of the mine will extract a valuable resource using their own patented technology, which ensures a relatively high profitability of production, even if processing raw materials with a low nickel content (characteristic of Kazakhstan's ores).

For the implementation of the project, according to different sources, investments in volumes from 200 to 500 million US dollars will be needed, which in part will be borrowed funds, SAT & Company's own capital and budgetary appropriations.