By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The extraction of coal and coal concentrate reached 117.8 million tons at the end of 2018. It is 6 percent more than in the same period of 2017. Coal mining is concentrated in two key regions: Pavlodar (70.3 million tons) and Karaganda (39.1 million tons).

Such large enterprises as the Bogatyr Komir LLP, a subsidiary of Samruk-Energo JSC (the Bogatyr and Severny coal mines) are engaged in coal mining in the Pavlodar region; a member of Zaman Group LLP "Gamma" (deposits "Sarykol" and "Taldykol"); Maykuben-West LLP, (Shoptykol lignite deposit), etc.

In the Karaganda region, ERG Eurasian Group (Shubarkol Komir JSC, Tsentralny and Zapadny coal mines), the coal department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC (Lenina, Tentekskaya, Kazakhstanskaya and others), etc. are engaged in coal mining.

Of the total coal and coal concentrate mining, only 5.5 percent (6.4 million tons) accounted for lignite, and 91.1 percent (107.3 million tons) immediately accounted for coal.

At the same time, the main share of hard coal (81 percent) was energy coal (87 million tons), and only 10 percent was coked (10.8 million tons). According to estimates of Samruk-Energy JSC, the main procurer of thermal coal is Bogatyr Komir.

Bogatyr Komir Kazakhstan company is one of the largest in the world in terms of open-pit coal mining, its balance reserves are 2.75 billion tons. The production capacity of the enterprise is 42 million tons of coal per year, including 32 million tons in the Bogatyr mine, and 10 million tons in the Severny mine.

According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Kazakhstan ranks eighth in the world in terms of proven coal reserves (25.6 billion tons - 2.2 percent of the world total).

According to Samruk-Energy, Bogatyr Komir LLP accounted for 34 percent of coal production (also used for heating), and the ERG group of companies accounted for 28 percent.

The main share of extracted coal is used for the needs of the Kazakh power industry and for export (51 percent and 31 percent, respectively), the rest is for household needs of the population and industrial enterprises (13 percent and 5 percent, respectively).

As many as 84.7 million tons of coal were shipped to Kazakhstan in 2018 - by 4.6 percent more than 2017. The largest volumes of shipments are traditionally accounted for Pavlodar (67 percent) and Karagandy (24 percent).

As part of the development strategy of Samruk-Energy JSC, starting from 2024, with the commissioning of the beneficiation plant at Bogatyr open-pit mine, it is planned to start exporting enriched coal in the amount of 1 million tons.

From 2026 it is expected that export volumes of enriched coal will grow to 3.4 million tons annually, taking into account the expansion of the processing plant.

The coal industry of Kazakhstan is one of the largest sectors of the country's economy. In terms of coal reserves, Kazakhstan is among the top ten countries.

Today, the coal industry of the republic provides for the production of more than 74 percent of electricity in Kazakhstan, 100 percent loading of coke-chemical production, fully meets the needs for fuel in the residential sector and the population.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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