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Kazakhstan to allocate over $1 billion for geological prospecting within next 5 years

ASTANA, February 06. /ITAR-TASS/. About $1.03 billion (160 billion tenge) will be allocated in the Republic of Kazakhstan in a period until 2020 for the development of the geological prospecting sector and the mineral resources base, Aset Isekeshev, Vice Premier and Minister of Industry and New Technologies, announced on Thursday.

"Under the program for the development of the raw-materials base, provision made for financing amounts to 160 billion tenge within a period ending in 2020," Isekeshev told a Ministry Board meeting.

Thus, geological prospecting studies have already been started in Karaganda Region of the Republic on an area of over 100,000 square kilometers. Financing of the works will amount to more than one billion tenge. Besides, the Vice-Premier said, the Kazakhmys mining company will assign over $161 million (over 25 billion tenge) for the conduct of geological prospecting in the same region.

According to Ministry data, about $1.5 billion (234 billion tenge) were invested in the geological prospecting sector in the period from 2000 to 2013, with the overall amount of investments in the mining sector being $51.6 billion (over 8 trillion tenge).