President Japarov announces launch of underground gold mining project at Kumtor deposit

AKIPRESS.COM – President Sadyr Japarov visited the Kumtor Gold Company, a major gold mining enterprise in Kyrgyzstan.

During his speech, he announced the launch of an underground gold mining project at the Kumtor deposit.

“To date, about 1,600 meters of tunnels have already been excavated, and we are ready to mine high-grade ore with a gold content of more than 5 grams per ton. The underground project is expected to operate for 17 years, and 147 tons of gold reserves have been officially added to the state’s balance,” the president stated.

According to him, the main advantage of underground mining is the reduction of excessive waste rock removal. In open-pit mining, extracting just 1 ton of ore used to require removing up to 60 tons of waste rock, which he said is excessive by global standards.

Open-pit mining will continue at Kumtor alongside the underground operations, but gradually the focus will shift toward underground development, Japarov added.

The president also reported that from May 2021 to the present, Kumtor has generated a total revenue of $3.445 billion. Of that, $891.6 million was contributed to the national budget through taxes and other payments. During this period, over 54 tons of gold were produced.

In contrast, he pointed out that during the 28 years when Kumtor was managed by a foreign company, Kyrgyzstan received only $100 million in dividends.

“But in just the last three years, we have already received $441 million in dividends. Compare: in 28 years – $100 million, in 3 years – $441 million,” he emphasized.

Japarov also announced the upcoming reprocessing of the tailings storage, which contains over 100 tons of gold. In addition, the Togolok deposit has been fully transferred to Kumtor, where development work has already begun. Geological exploration is also ongoing at the Jangart site, he said.