Kuzembaev Coal Mine

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Kuzembaev Coal Mine (Кузембаева) is an operating coal mine in Aktas, Bukhar-Zhyrau, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Kuzembaev Coal Mine	Aktas, Bukhar-Zhyrau, Karaganda, Kazakhstan	49.805879, 72.966106 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1959	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	0.8	2021	Underground	Longwall	–	500*	1400

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
19	–	595	Karaganda	Bituminous	Met	ArcelorMittal Temirtau steel plant

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC	NUH Baiterek JSC	Kazakhstan

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

Note: The asterisk (*) indicates that the value is an estimated figure based on various factors, including the company's forecasted or reported monthly or quarterly production data, etc.

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Saleable	–	–	–	–	0.8*	–	1*

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September and December supplements.

Background

The Kuzembaev Coal Mine (Шахта им. Кузембаева) is a underground coal mine in Karaganda Region, Kazakhstan. It used to be owned by ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC, the Kazakh subsidiary of ArcelorMittal. It was part of ArcelorMittal's Karaganda Mine Complex, which supplies coal to the ArcelorMittal Temirtau steel plant.

The mine was established in 1959. Later in 1998, 50-letiya USSR mine was merged with Kuzembaeva mine. The eastern part of the mine borders with Karaganda City.

Following the tragic accident at Kostenko coal mine on 28 October 2023 killing 45 people, Kazakh President ordered his cabinet to stop investment cooperation with ArcelorMittal Temirtau. Arcelor Mittal confirmed on October 28th that they have been in discussions with the government and recently signed a preliminary agreement for a transaction that will transfer ownership of ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC to the Republic of Kazakhstan. The sale was completed in December 2023. Under the terms of the transaction, on closing ArcelorMittal has received consideration of $286 million and a further $250 million as repayment of outstanding intra-group dues. ArcelorMittal will also receive an additional sovereign-fund guaranteed payment of $450 million, paid in four equal annual instalments, as repayment of an intra-group loan. The new owners is Qazaqstan Investment Corporation, as state-owned direct investment fund which is owned by the national holding Baiterek. Subsequently Qazaqstan Steel Group has become a new investor in the facilities of ArcelorMittal Temirtau. Qazaqstan Steel Group is owned by a Kazakh businessman Andrey Lavrentyev. At the same time, ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC was renamed Qarmet.

Operations

A new longwall was launched in the mine 2020 with capacity of 0.8 million tonnes. In 2020 a summary of the public consultation on the environmental assessment of the mine's operations was released. In December 2021 the operations at the mine were suspended following the tragic incident at Abayskaya coal mine a month earlier. However it was anticipated that necessary repairs would be completed by January 2022. In June 2022 following a review of the safety of the Kuzembaev mine, 178 instances of non-compliance were detected, these were discussed with the company with a view to correct them. As of August 2021, production since the beginning of the year was said to have reached 0.533 million tonnes.

In June 2023, a media source reported that the Kuzembaev mine was mining in the most powerful longwall in the company, with 110,000 tonnes per month. The second longwall of the Kuzembaev mine has a longwall load of 48,000 tonnes per month. A video report from September 2023 referred to the mine's capacity of 1.7 Mt per annum.

The mine celebrated 65 years of operations in April 2024. It planned to produce 1.1 million tonnes in 2024.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.