Mining & Metals

Kazakhstan ranks among the world’s top producers of uranium, chromium, lead, zinc, manganese, and copper, with a mining sector that attracts sustained investment from Australian, Chinese, European, and North American mining companies. The legal framework governing mineral extraction operates under the Subsoil Code of 2017, which consolidates the licensing and contractual regimes for all solid minerals alongside hydrocarbons.

Bond Stone advises mining companies, offtake investors, and financial institutions on the legal aspects of mineral asset acquisition, subsoil use licensing, joint venture structuring, and cross-border M&A involving Kazakhstani mining assets. Our firm has acted on transactions involving significant mineral extraction assets including a USD 12 million acquisition of a tannery and processing facility with associated mineral rights in Northern Kazakhstan.

Foreign investors in the Kazakhstani mining sector must navigate state pre-emptive rights, mandatory local content requirements, environmental compliance obligations, and export restrictions on certain strategic minerals. Early engagement of experienced in-country counsel is essential to transaction certainty and regulatory approval timelines.

Our Mining & Metals practice covers: subsoil use licence acquisition and transfer; mining joint venture and shareholders agreements; asset acquisition due diligence; state pre-emptive right procedures; export compliance and customs structuring; environmental regulatory filings; project finance security structuring; and mining dispute resolution before Kazakhstani courts and the AIFC Court.