AMM 2025. HOW THE MAIN EVENT OF THE KAZAKHSTANI MINING AND METALLURGICAL COMPLEX WENT
2,892 MINING AND METALLURGY PROFESSIONALS FROM 20 COUNTRIES, 19 BUSINESS SESSIONS AND THREE FORUMS WITH 172 SPEAKERS, 387 MEETINGS OF ENTREPRENEURS AND AN EXHIBITION OF 50 COMPANIES WITH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES.
All these figures show the scale of the 15th Anniversary International Mining and Metallurgy Congress - Astana Mining & Metallurgy AMM 2025, which was held in Astana on June 4 and 5.
The main topic of the anniversary event was “Transformation of the Mining and Metallurgical Complex: Responses to Global Challenges and Market Changes”. On the first day, the emphasis was placed on dialogue at the international level. Traditionally, the platform retained its status as a strategic one for dialogue between government agencies and businesses from the mining and metallurgical industries not only in Kazakhstan, but also in the entire Eurasian region. National delegations were organized from Canada consisting of 22 companies (Hatch, CRIRSCO, B2Gold, NeoPerformance, First Quantum), Great Britain consisting of 5 companies (Maritime House, Mkango, Hypromag, UKEF), Sweden consisting of 7 companies (Sandvik, Epiroc, Atlas Copco, Olofsfors, Ericsson) and China consisting of 6 companies (NFC, Sanny, Xi'an Center of China, CCCMC, CUTES).
The key speakers of AMM 2025 were Liu Yu, the Chairman of the Board of NFC (China); Tina Armstrong, the Global Managing Director, Hatch (Canada); Rodrigo Cabellos, the Senior Vice President, Molymet (Chile); Victor King, the Senior Vice President, B2Gold (Canada); Garth Kirkham, the Chairman, CRIRSCO (Canada); Joaquim Nunes De Almeida, the General Director, Internal Market and Industry, European Commission; Badrinath Veluri, the President, Global Rare Earth Industry Association, REIA (Belgium).
Opening the Congress, Iran Sharhan, the Vice Minister of Industry and Construction of Kazakhstan, spoke about the current achievements of the mining and metallurgical complex of the republic. Thus, in 2024, the share of this industry in GDP was 8%, and the volume of manufactured products exceeded 14.3 trillion KZT. At the same time, investments increased by 12% and reached the level of 3.6 billion dollars, and exports amounted to 21.4 billion. The industry continues to actively develop: in the near future, it is planned to implement five large investment projects worth more than 3.5 trillion KZT with the creation of 8 thousand jobs. In general, over the past decade, the production of gold-containing ores has increased by 2.2 times, and the production of refined gold – two times. This allowed Kazakhstan to enter the “twenty” largest countries in the world in terms of gold reserves.
“These figures indicate a high level of development of the industry and its serious integration with the global economy”, Iran Sharhan said.
Similarly, development continues in the field of geological exploration. Since 2018, it has managed to attract more than 420 billion KZT of investments, and the area of geological exploration is planned to increase from the current 1.9 million square kilometers to 2.2 million by 2026. The emphasis will be on the digitalization of geodata and the implementation of the international CRIRSCO standard, which will provide transparency and equal conditions for all investors.
In general, the priority for the mining and metallurgical complex is localization of chemical and technological processes, as well as the production of components of strategic importance. Kazakhstan is systematically moving towards the comprehensive development of the industry.
It was the future and opportunities – not just the current problems of the industry that were the focus of all AMM sessions. They covered a wide range of (but without exception, all important) aspects of the mining and metallurgical complex. For example, there were sessions on the topics of “Man-made mineral formations and waste processing: the best cases of effective resource management”, “The role of geopolitical changes in ESG trends”, “Kazakhstan’s mining and metallurgical complex – overcoming challenges”, “Central Asia’s strategic hub: Kazakhstan as part of the global supply chain of critical raw minerals”, “Ensuring industrial safety at mining enterprises in the Republic of Kazakhstan” and “Geological exploration in Kazakhstan – current status, challenges and solutions”.
Industry experts – from government regulators to businesses – were able to discuss systemic challenges, transformation processes and priorities in the sustainable development of the mining and metallurgical complex.
In parallel with thematic sessions, international platforms also worked. For example, a meeting of geological services of partner countries, a dialogue with industry representatives from Sweden, Canada, Great Britain, China took place. The CNMC and NFC Investment Road Show became an important platform for demonstrating investment potential and deepening production and technological cooperation between Kazakhstan and China.
Thus, AMM 2025 was able to go beyond the Kazakhstani mining and metallurgical complex, creating conditions for the exchange of experience at the international level.
It is important to note that the active participation of industry players from Kazakhstan and abroad resulted in a large number of b2b meetings. In just two days, 387 b2b meetings were held, each of which could become the beginning of new partnerships or the implementation of joint projects.
In parallel with the Congress, we recall, an industry exhibition was also held. It was represented by 50 companies from 12 countries, including Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada, Cyprus, China, Russia, the USA, Turkey, France, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan. The exhibitors included Qarmet, Kazakhmys, Kazzinc, ERG, Solidcore, NFC, Sandvik, Epiroc, Atlas Copco, Ericsson, and others. It is noteworthy that 35 of the total number of participants were Kazakhstani enterprises, which demonstrates the stable development of local production and technologies. The remaining companies - from abroad - presented their solutions for automation, “digital twins”, labor protection systems, and sustainable processing technologies.
The second day was focused on industry forums and summing up the Congress. A distinctive feature of AMM is the organization of industry forums, where important issues can be discussed in detail. Thus, on June 5, the Forum of Gold Miners of Kazakhstan, the Coal Industry Forum and the Congress of Jewelers of Kazakhstan were held. At the Coal Industry Forum, the Industry Agreement of the Coal Industry was signed, which is aimed at solving socio-economic issues, developing partnerships between trade unions, employers and the relevant ministry. Based on this document, coal mining enterprises will be able to develop and adopt new collective agreements.
The content of the second day included panel sessions on the topics “Mining and Metallurgical Complex in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: New Discoveries”, “Related Technologies in the Mining and Metallurgical Industry - Improving Production Efficiency”, “Domestic Value and Inter-Industry Cooperation” and “Unlocking Investment Opportunities: Financing the Mining Sector of Kazakhstan”. There were also specialized events for specialists in the fields of GR, HR and PR, where they exchanged cases and experience in their areas. For example, the GR meet-up became a platform for discussing anti-crisis measures together with representatives of the public sector.
A key event of AMM 2025 was the inclusion of the Sarytogan graphite production project in the list of strategic projects of the European Union (the list is one of the measures implementing the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which entered into force on May 23, 2024). This will allow the Sarytogan project to receive both financial and trade support from the EU CSM fund (the total capital expenditure for the Project is estimated at 344 million US dollars).
In order to create a molybdenum production facility that is missing in the country, a Memorandum on the production of molybdenum products was signed between the Ministry of Industry and Molymet, the Chilean company (the largest molybdenum producer in the world). The regional partner for the supply of raw materials for the Molymet project is Qaz Mining Company LLP (owner of the Drozhilovsky deposit, the largest tungsten-molybdenum deposit in the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kostanay region), with reserves of 263 thousand tons of molybdenum and 64.3 thousand tons of tungsten).
An important tradition for the AMM Congress has become the award ceremony for the winners of the National Industry Competition “Golden Hephaestus”. This year, the event was held within the walls of Astana Ballet State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Independent experts from industry associations and the Ministry of Industry and Construction reviewed all applications and determined the winners in 15 nominations.
The event was organized by ITECA Kazakhstan Exhibition Company and its international partner - ICA Events Group of Companies.
Government partner: Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Gold Partners: Eurasian Group (ERG), Solidcore resources, KAZ Minerals, Kazzinc, CoreX Holding, Kazakhmys.
Silver Partners: Komatsu Central Asia, Hatch, Qarmet.
Bronze Partners: Telko Central Asia, SGS Kazakhstan, Fakoor Sanat Tehran Engineering, Dassault Systemes, Beeline Business Kazakhstan, TURANINDUSTRIAL.
