Zhambyl Region, 24 October. Gold miner Altynalmas achieved gold recovery of 92–95% from refractory sulphide ores in trials of the Albion Process™ technology, against about 75% currently at its Akbakai mining and processing complex, and in 2027 will begin designing a new plant costing more than $200 million, the company's press service said.
Refractory ores are ores from which gold is poorly recovered by conventional cyanide leaching: the metal is locked inside sulphide minerals, which have to be broken down first. Albion Process is a patented technology in which the concentrate is finely ground and then oxidised with oxygen in tanks at atmospheric pressure, after which the gold can be recovered.
The trials are being run by a research centre for integrated mineral recovery that has operated at Akbakai since June, with a staff of 51. Design of the gold recovery plant is due to begin in early 2027 and be completed in the third quarter of 2028, with construction finished by the third quarter of 2030 and full capacity of 2.4 million tonnes of ore a year reached in 2031. The plant will be able to produce up to 115,000 ounces of gold a year. From 2027 the centre will also study ores from other Kazakh deposits.
What it means: The new technology would recover about a fifth more gold from the same ore; the industrial plant will not appear before 2030–2031.
Who benefits: Altynalmas, which gets more gold from ore it already mines. The state, which gains higher output and taxes. Other subsoil users, who can have their ores studied from 2027.
Background: Akbakai is Altynalmas's mining and processing complex in Zhambyl region. Until the end of 2026 the research centre there is working on ore from the company's own deposits.
