On 13 August local time, the phase one processing plant at the Saryarka gold mine in Karaganda Region completed a 72-hour full-load commissioning run. All process parameters met design requirements and the plant moved from construction into commercial production. Group management, the EPC contractor and representatives of the regional industry authority attended the opening ceremony.
Overall gold recovery held at 92.4% through full-load commissioning, 1.1 percentage points above the feasibility study design figure. Tailings are filtered and dry-stacked, and 87% of process water is recycled.
Phase one runs a combined flowsheet of three-stage crushing, SAG milling, gravity concentration, flotation and carbon-in-leach: gravity recovers coarse free gold first, flotation concentrate is reground and fed to the CIL circuit, and barren solution returns to the grinding circuit for reuse. Mill head grade averaged 2.87 g/t during commissioning, overall gold recovery reached 92.4% and processing cost per tonne of ore stayed within the design figure. Tailings are filter-pressed and dry-stacked in place of a conventional wet tailings storage facility, materially reducing seepage and dam failure risk.
Saryarka was granted its mining licence in 2021 and construction formally began in the second quarter of 2024, with total fixed asset investment of about KZT 48 billion. At peak construction the project employed more than 1,200 people, with local employment held above 90%. A 35 kV substation, 12 km of site roads and an accommodation camp were completed in parallel, and power and water connections have been reserved for phase two.
The latest reserve reconciliation work puts Saryarka's remaining gold resources at 17 t at an average grade of 2.9 g/t, across a licence area of 246 km². The project as a whole remains in development: phase two is planned to lift throughput to 2 Mt/a and add a heap leach pad for low-grade ore, with the feasibility study expected to complete review in the first half of 2027.
“Phase one marks Saryarka's transition from exploration and development into production,” the Group's head of operations said at the ceremony. The next stage, he added, will focus on ramp-up to nameplate capacity, control of energy and reagent consumption, and dedicated sign-off of environmental and safety facilities, with stable full-load operation targeted for the fourth quarter.
Resource, grade, capacity and investment figures in this article are stated on an interim basis; the Group's formal announcements and reviewed technical documents prevail.