Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 2
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Rio Tinto, an Australian-British mining corporation, is currently working on two early-stage copper exploration projects in Kazakhstan in joint venture with KazGeology, a source in the company told Trend on Oct. 2.
In February 2013, KazGeology and Rio Tinto signed an agreement on establishment of two joint ventures engaged in exploration of large deposits in two areas of the Karaganda region – Balkhash Saryshagan and Korgantas.
Then, in February 2015, they created a joint venture for the Korgantas project, in charge of the commencement of field works on the Korgantas area using advanced technologies including the airborne survey in the second quarter of 2015.
Kazakhstan is currently the only country in CIS where Rio Tinto has active operations.
The company representative said that Rio Tinto has exited Russia and has no active exploration in the country.
"Our operating entities were liquidated earlier this year,” the company's representative said.
Rio Tinto earlier announced that it will declare force majeure on certain customer contracts after the US imposed sanctions on its partner Russian aluminum producer Rusal.
The rep also refuted rumors about negotiations with Uzbek officials on re-entering the country’s mining industry, yet said that Rio Tinto retain cordial relations and continue to monitor developments in Uzbekistan.
Back in early March 2018 Uzbekistan sent Rio Tinto review materials for resumption of cooperation and was planning to invite the company to invest in copper mining in the country. Then, a source in the company told Trend that Rio Tinto may consider re-entering the Uzbek market.
It seems, however, that no progress has been made in attractive the company to the country.
In 2012, the State Committee issued the company a five-year-long license for geological survey work on copper detection in Gava prospected area in Namangan province. Rio Tinto decided to cease the project due to unfavorable price conjuncture after the completion of the first stage of work in 2015.
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