The Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan has published an announcement of an electronic auction for the Obukhovsky deposit. The auction is scheduled for 15 May at 11:00 (Astana time). The deadline for submitting applications to participate is from 26 March to 25 April. The starting subscription bonus amount is 1.846 million tenge.
One of the obligations of the potential subsoil user is to maintain the jobs, social package and salary agreed with the akimat of the North Kazakhstan Region. In addition, the new owner must contribute 140,296,000 tenge (38,000 MCI) annually for the socio-economic development of the region.
Recall, in early February, it was reported that one of the co-owners of the company 'Tioline', Viktor Dolgalev, who managed the Obukhovsky deposit, had been arrested. He is accused of illegal activities and 'unauthorised use of subsoil'.
Furthermore, the Financial Monitoring Agency is conducting an investigation into him regarding illegal entrepreneurship involving the extraction of income on an especially large scale.
At the same time, on 19 January, employees of the deposit and the Ministry of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a meeting, during which it became clear that 'the ministry had violated the procedure for revoking the subsoil use contract'.
It then transpired that, according to the law on subsoil use, it is prohibited to issue new licences for deposits within the boundaries of which there is groundwater. However, as we can observe, the authorised agency still plans to hold an auction to select a new investor.