Kazakhstan, Astana, March 7 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
The Kazakh government will consider amendments to the law on 'Subsoil and Subsoil Use' in April which should facilitate the activity of subsoil users, Vice Minister of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Sauranbayev told Trend on Wednesday.
"The law on 'Subsoil and Subsoil Use' with amendments will be submitted to the government, and then on to the parliament in April," he said. It will greatly facilitate the activity of subsoil users and increase the investment attractiveness of the country's geology."
He said the main developer of the new law is the Oil and Gas Ministry. The Ministry of Industry and New Technologies will make amendments and changes resulting in a common position being created.
He said the need for amendments to the current law was caused by the fact that the version of the document was written with little emphasis towards the oil and gas industry.
"Naturally our oil industry is the engine of the economy," he said. "There was such a situation that it was necessary to go through the same procedure as to obtain a contract for the oil field development to get a contract for gravel and sand. The existing provisions of the law are correct for the oil industry, but they unsuitable for solid minerals."
He added that according to the current version of the law, exploration and production have been equated. In general, it is wrong for solid minerals.
"Exploration is a risky business and the state must encourage investors by facilitating tax points," he said. "Second, we envisaged that after exploration an investor must not depend on officials. The user must automatically receive the right to extract natural resources in case of a successful outcome of exploration."
The amendments to the law on 'Subsoil and Subsoil Use' will cover five major companies operating in the Kazakh mining industry, namely, ENRC, Kazzinc, Kazakhmys, Kazatomprom and Arsellor Mittal.