Huge deposits of rare earth metals have been discovered in Kazakhstan. The resources are said to be the third largest deposits of these valuable industrial elements in the world, which is a record for a single discovery. Kazakhstan is thus facing a valuable development opportunity – and potential advances from “partners” who want to use its deposits for their own purposes.
The discovery was made in the mining district around the city of Karaganda in central Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Construction, “four promising areas” have been identified on site. The deposit, dubbed “New Kazakhstan,” contains elements such as cerium, yttrium, lanthanum, and neodymium. The deposits are said to reach a depth of 300 meters.
The discovered metals are said to amount to almost one million tons (935,400 to be exact). However, these are only the confirmed resources. Further research is still being conducted, having already started in 2022. Estimates suggest that the entire area could contain as much as 20 million tons of rare earth metals. The density of their occurrence in the ground is estimated at 700 grams per ton.
However, local experts not affiliated with the government are dampening enthusiasm. As they point out, for Kazakhstan to appear on the map of the world’s major rare earth sources, the deposits in the Karaganda region will first have to be thoroughly examined and studied. It will also be necessary to assess the geological and hydrological conditions, as well as to estimate the profitability of their exploitation depending on the conditions.
Kazakhstan in the spotlight?
The latter, however, may prove significant regardless of the costs. Political considerations may contribute to this, or more specifically, the increasingly fierce competition for access to rare earth metals worldwide. This has become glaringly apparent over the past two years. As you know, China was the leading supplier to world markets.
“Were” – not ‘are’ – because Beijing had already introduced strict restrictions on their export some time ago. In this way, it deprived the main source of supply of the technology industry of all other countries. In response, they have rushed to find new sources of these elements, as well as to invest in the exploitation of their own resources or to look for more innovative solutions.
In this context, a wave of efforts aimed at Kazakhstan can already be expected. For obvious reasons, Russia will certainly be interested in this, as it has traditionally considered this country to be its “sphere of influence”. However, Kazakhstan itself is looking for alternatives to a partnership with Russia. The antidote to the insistent policy of Moscow is the increasingly close economic relations with Beijing.
China, in turn, is not sitting idly by, trying to protect its monopoly. European and American companies are also investing in the exploitation of Kazakh raw materials and will certainly be interested in the new discovery. So Karaganda could soon become a much busier city than it is today. Even if the reports on the deposits themselves do not turn out to be as optimistic as the country’s authorities would like.
