During the 1st Kazakhstan International Mineral Resources and Metallurgy Congress ‘Astana Minerals & Metallurgy' held on June 30-July 1 in Astana, giant Australian iron ore miner Rio Tinto signed an agreement with Kazakh state mining company Tau-Ken Samruk to jointly explore and develop Kazakhstan's mineral reserves, in which investment has been cut in the past few years
Accordingly, the companies, which will form a 50-50 joint venture, will focus on copper, gold, bauxite and iron ore. Kazakhstan is to supply rights and permissions, while Rio Tinto will contribute technology to the joint venture.
Tau-Ken Samruk is the metals and mining subsidiary of Kazakh state-owned holding and investment company Samruk-Kazyna.