Kyrgyzstan has officially launched the underground mining project of Kumtor gold mine, marking a new stage of development for this largest gold mine in Central Asia. The project has been fully launched three years after the nationalization transformation. In the first phase, 1600 meters of tunnels have been developed with ore grades exceeding 5 grams per ton. The expected operating period is 17 years. Official data shows that the newly added gold geological reserves have reached 147 tons.

The Kumtor mine was originally developed by Centerra Gold in Canada and was nationalized by Kyrgyzstan in 2021 through a settlement agreement. Since taking over, the mine has generated $3.4 billion in revenue for the country, of which $891.6 million has been paid in taxes and other budget funds, and $441 million has been generated as state-owned dividends, far exceeding the cumulative $100 million over the previous 28 years.

In addition to continuing to promote existing open-pit mining, the government is gradually shifting towards underground operations with stronger environmental advantages, and simultaneously carrying out tailings reuse and exploration of new mineral deposits such as Togo and Jangart, to build a diversified gold resource chain. According to current gold prices, the market value of newly added reserves has exceeded 14.2 billion US dollars.

The transformation of Kumtor Mine demonstrates Kyrgyzstan's rebalancing between geopolitics, resource security, and economic independence, and its development achievements may have an impact on the policy direction of other resource-based countries in Central Asia. (This article is from the official website www.seetao.com of Jian Dao. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website mining column editor/Yang Beihua