Kazakhstan to auction 50 rare metal deposits in 2025
June auction will offer exploration, production rights to global firms amid rising demand for critical minerals.
ASTANA, Kazakhstan (MNTV) — Kazakhstan will offer exploration and production rights for 50 deposits of gold, rare metals, and other critical minerals in an online auction scheduled for June 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Construction announced this week.
The upcoming auction, to be hosted on the country’s Unified Subsoil Use Platform, is part of a broader push to attract foreign investment into the mining sector. The Times of Central Asia reports that several international companies, including firms from the United States, European Union, and China, have already submitted applications to participate.
Almas Kushumov, Director of the Ministry’s Department of Subsoil Use, shared the details at the MINEX Kazakhstan Mining and Exploration Forum. “We will auction off deposits with confirmed balance reserves—gold, coal, rare metals, and polymetals,” he said. “The process will be fully digital, and information about the deposits will be published soon.”
The licenses will cover both exploration and production rights. Production licenses will be valid for up to 25 years. The full list of the 50 available sites will be released in the coming days.
Kazakhstan has increasingly turned to digital auctions as a transparent method for granting mining rights. Between 2023 and 2024, 117 deposits were awarded through this format, generating over 29 billion Kazakh tenge ($55.9 million) in signing bonuses.
The Central Asian country holds over 9,000 registered deposits, including nearly 1,000 classified as solid mineral sites. Many of these sites were last surveyed during the Soviet era, prompting the government to emphasize new geological exploration as part of its long-term strategy.
Kushumov highlighted that the introduction of the Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use in 2018 helped modernize the legal framework and significantly improved investor confidence. “Since the new code came into effect, we’ve seen private capital investment in the mining sector triple,” he noted.
Kazakhstan is also moving to develop its rare earth sector, which has become strategically important amid global competition for critical raw materials. The state-owned mining company Tau-Ken Samruk is advancing work at the Kuirektykol rare earth deposit, where exploration began in 2022. Recent geological studies have identified new promising zones that could elevate Kazakhstan’s position in the global rare earths market.
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