OPERATIONS
Mining & concentrating
Extracting value at every step Kazakhmys is responsible for 90% of all copper produced in Kazakhstan. We also produce and sell significant quantities of zinc, silver and gold as by-products. Our integrated structure, owning and managing everything from mining to production, has helped make us one of the world's most flexible and lowest-cost copper producers.
(Zhomart mine in the Zhezkazgan region)
The Zhezkazgan region is our largest mining and concentrating region, contributing around 70% of Group mined ore.
(Core sample drilling at Bozshakol)
The central region contributes around 15% of Group mined ore, and consists of four mines and three concentrators
(Mining in the east region)
The east region contributes around 15% of Group mined ore, and consists of six underground mines and four concentrators.
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Managing three regions
Kazakhmys operates mines and concentrators in three regions:
Focused on copper
In 2010, we mined 32.9 million tonnes of copper ore, with an average grade (copper content) of 1.09%. We crush the ore in several stages and treat it in one of our ten concentrators. The concentrate then passes to our smelting and refining team for processing through to finished metal.
Producing valuable by-products
Alongside copper, our ore contains other metals. We produce significant quantities of zinc, silver and gold as by-products. The mix of by-products varies between mines.