At a briefing on the introduction of new technologies in the mining and metallurgical industry of Kazakhstan

Answering the inbusiness question during the briefing.kz about whether the RSE "National Center for Integrated Processing of Mineral Raw Materials of the Republic of Kazakhstan" (NCCPS) is expected to join the national mining company Tau-Ken Samruk, its head Abdurasul Zharmenov stated that he was against the transfer of industry research institutes to a competitive environment and management of mining and metallurgical companies.

Tau-Ken Samruk actually appealed to the Government to transfer the Institute of Metallurgy and Enrichment and the Institute of Nuclear Physics to them – this does not apply to us. However, I have given my opinion that I am against such transfers, because the transfer of research organizations to universities, for example, which took place about ten years ago, led to their disappearance. Two institutes were transferred to KazMunayGas, and today they have become private. We have sent many research organizations to a competitive environment… In no case have these institutions increased their extra-budgetary funding. They remained 99% on the budget's neck. Therefore, I am against any such introductions," he said.

"Private traders, if they do not have acute problems, as both Kazakhmys and Kazzinc address us today, we work, I have 25% of the total budget, 75% I have private orders. But they turn to acute problems that urgently need to be solved today, but in the long term, for which science should work, private companies will not invest... Science, if it is part of an enterprise, it begins to work specifically on the strict tasks of this enterprise, science leaves – it becomes factory science. The Institute of Metallurgy, which is engaged in fundamental research, if it starts working on specific orders from the same Tau-Ken Samruk, fundamental science will disappear from it," Zharmenov believes. 

He also clarified in the comment of the question inbusiness.kz that the annual R&D contributions made by subsurface users in the amount of 1% of their income under subsurface use contracts do not reach the NCSPMS.

"We are the main scientific organization in the field of mining and metallurgical complex. The subsoil users are mining and metallurgical enterprises, and maybe half a percent of this money reaches us. This means that something is wrong there," the head of the center believes.

At the same time, according to Zharmenov, NCKPMS has become well accustomed to the market environment and is working on orders from large mining and metallurgical companies in Kazakhstan.

"Our achievements in refractories are very good. This is Temirtau Karmetkombinat (ArcelorMittal Temirtau. – Ed.), now we are slowly displacing imported suppliers. I think that in the near future we can replace up to 15-20% of all supplies of refractories from the Karmetkombinat. We have now started to supply new generation refractory materials to the ERG group. We are starting a serious direction at Kazzinka. We are currently setting up large-scale implementations of copper technologies, hydrometallurgical industries, and rhenium production from waste. We have work to do with Kazzink. There is a lot of work on processing new nickel ores – new production facilities are practically based on our technologies. Here is what the plants in Aktogay Copper Enterprises (Kaz Minerals. – Ed.), we developed regulations and technologies for them. A zinc plant was built in Balkhash using our technology, unfortunately, it has now stopped due to some incorrect issues, but now they are resuming. There are quite a lot of such works," he said. In addition, the center has developed technologies for many recently launched, operating and expanding metallurgical plants in the country, Zharmenov said, answering a question. inbusiness.kz .

"All projects use the foundations of our technologies, including vanadium (a vanadium plant in the Kyzylorda region. – Ed.), and ferromanganese in Taraz, silicomanganese. The problem there is not technology – that's what they want to expand. There are problems there today, especially in the manganese part, at the Taraz Metallurgical Plant, Temirtau (obviously, the Temirtau electrometallurgical plant is meant. – We have also converted carbide furnaces to silicomanganese and ferromanganese, and there are practically no manganese raw materials in Kazakhstan today. Because of this, they will have problems, and their expansion will be discussed only when they find a raw material base for these industries. We have established vanadium production, but it is not fully operational today, but it uses imported raw materials from Russia – they do not process ore. We have now held such negotiations on ore for the last time and have started work on transporting this ore. There is a Taraz phosphorus plant, and vanadium slags can be extracted there and vanadium can be extracted from there – this work continues. In all these works, we are the main developers of the technology, it is our company," he said.