ALMATY, Sept 13 (Askume) – Kazakhstan aims to boost production of metals needed for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and is issuing hundreds of new exploration licences to attract industry, the industry minister told Askume, citing fresh investments.
The former Soviet republic is promoting itself as a reliable supplier of the most critical materials cited by the EU, while Russia has threatened to restrict exports and China has threatened to ban exports.Strengthen control over rare earths .
Kazakhstan has signed deals with the EU and the UK for the supply of critical minerals.
“People know that Kazakhstan is very reliable … we have been supplying the market for a long time,” Industry Minister Kanat Sharpaev said in an interview this week.
The central Asian country, the world’s ninth-largest by area but sparsely populated, holds 90% of the elements in the periodic table and is already a major exporter of ferroalloys, gold and copper.
Charapaev said the country is seeking market share as demand for battery materials such as lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel and graphite grows.
Kazakhstan already mines manganese, but last year it also began processing manganese sulfate, aiming to capture 10% of the global market for the battery material.
The company also supplies phosphates for fertilizers and processes materials needed for the increasingly popular LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, he said.
“Creating scalable battery-grade metal processing is an area we want to expand into,” said Charapaev, a former Citigroup banker.
“We already have the production facilities, now we just need to expand the range of materials we offer.”
The Russian Threat
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week that Moscow should consider limiting exports of uranium, titanium, nickel and other commodities in response to Western sanctions.
Kazakhstan is a major global supplier of uranium and titanium. It also has 2% of the world’s nickel reserves, but its share in global production is insignificant.
The country still has undeveloped reserves of lithium, another major metal, but exploration is ongoing.
To accelerate exploration and development, the Cabinet has streamlined the process of exploration licensing and brought it online, he said.
According to the department, the number of licenses issued so far this year has increased to 487, while the number was 397 in 2023.
Major mining companies involved in exploration in Kazakhstan include BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) , Rio Tinto (RIO.L) , First Quantum Mining (FM.TO) , Fortescue (FMG.AX) and Teck Resources (TECKB.TO).
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said last month that it had bought a stake in the Kazakh Graphite Exploration Company .
Although Kazakhstan is a member of the Russian-led economic and security bloc, it has remained neutral in the Russia–Ukraine conflict, pledged to comply with Western sanctions against Moscow, and actively participated in the development of freight transit routes that bypass Russia.
