Baar (Switzerland), 27 October. Ust-Kamenogorsk resident Natalya Bugrova staged a one-person picket outside the headquarters of the Swiss corporation Glencore, which owns almost 70% of Kazzinc, and proposed that it fund an independent round-the-clock air monitoring system in the city with open data, including heavy metal readings, Informburo.kz reported.
Before the trip the activist asked to meet Glencore chief executive Gary Nagle, but he was away. After the picket she was received by a senior manager of the corporation, Mark Davis, who promised to pass the proposal on to management. There is no final decision yet: Bugrova is waiting for a concrete answer from the company. The report contains no public comment from the company.
The dispute is about the air in Ust-Kamenogorsk. According to 2024 statistics cited by the activist, of 49,700 tonnes of emissions from stationary sources in the city, Kazzinc accounted for 21,700 tonnes, or 44%: almost half of recorded emissions come from one company. Bugrova told Ulysmedia that the company profits from Kazakhstan's natural resources while the environmental consequences stay in the city: in her words, the money goes to shareholders and residents get the emissions.
Bugrova believes the company should take more responsibility for the city's environment. Her proposal, independent 24/7 monitoring with open data, means that measurements would be taken neither by the company itself nor only by the state. According to Bugrova, the need grew after the city's Environmental Safety Centre closed: there are no publicly available online readings of heavy metals, especially during sudden releases or accidents.
What it means: One resident has taken the dispute over Ust-Kamenogorsk's air from the city to Switzerland, to the owner of the largest polluter. Glencore's answer will show whether the corporation is ready for open monitoring that is demanded not by law but by public pressure.
Who benefits: Residents of Ust-Kamenogorsk: if independent monitoring appears, they will know in real time what they breathe. For Glencore and Kazzinc open data means extra public accountability; their position is not yet known.
Background: Glencore, headquartered in Baar in the canton of Zug, is one of the world's largest commodity mining and trading companies. Kazzinc is Kazakhstan's largest producer of zinc and lead, with plants in East Kazakhstan Region; besides Glencore, the state-owned Tau-Ken Samruk holds 28.82%.
