Key Minerals in Central Asia: Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Meets Head of German Industrial Group to Discuss Deep Processing Cooperation in Copper Industry
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Xinhua News Agency — According to a press release from the Prime Minister’s official website, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumanalin recently met with Karl Günter Papenburg, head of GP Günter Papenburg AG, a German industrial conglomerate, to discuss the development plan for Kazakhstan’s copper industry and potential cooperation directions.
The Kazakh side emphasized that developing the copper industry and advancing technological upgrading are among the key priorities of the current round of proactive economic policies. The government is actively attracting international leading enterprises and investors around core manufacturing sectors to promote high-value-added industrial development.
Data shows that Kazakhstan possesses approximately 130 copper deposits, with an annual ore extraction volume of about 170 million tons—accounting for roughly 4% of the global total. However, about 97% of copper products are still exported in primary forms such as cathode copper, concentrates, and raw ore.
Most of the ore is processed into copper concentrates at an annual output of around 750,000 to 800,000 tons, with about 470,000 tons further used for producing cathode copper, while the rest are exported directly. High-end deep-processed products such as wires, cables, and copper foils account for less than 5%.
The government believes there remains over a 20-fold potential for increasing the overall value added in the copper sector; thus, promoting higher-level deep processing will become a crucial direction for enhancing domestic industrial value addition.
The German side expressed interest in further exploring cooperation options and proposed considering the transportation of copper concentrates from Kazakhstan to Germany, although related logistics plans still require further assessment. At the same time, the group is willing to explore establishing higher-value copper processing projects within Kazakhstan and believes production facilities should be located as close as possible to raw material sources.
Both sides agreed to continue studying specific cooperation models, under the participation of the state-owned company Baiterek and with support from the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Germany.
Notably, GP Günter Papenburg AG has a history spanning more than 160 years and is one of Germany’s major private industrial and construction groups. Its business areas include resource development, building materials production, construction contracting, road and railway infrastructure projects, equipment trade, logistics, and waste recycling, with 61 subsidiaries under its umbrella. The group previously participated in the construction of the Astana-Burabai Expressway.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1863089122354188/
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