A video is circulating online which appears to show employees of JSC NAC Kazatomprom disposing of waste at the JSC SP ZARECHNOYE mine in the Otyrar district of the Turkestan region.
According to the Telegram channel Kozachkov offside, the footage shows a company employee describing how hazardous substances are disposed of.
"Look at how we have acid spills and other acidic, productive solutions containing metal. Our guys, on the orders of management, are burying all these solutions. There was a sulphuric acid spill here yesterday. <...> Right now, it's all soaking into the ground and will be buried," the report states.
For its part, the press service of JSC NAC Kazatomprom commented on the video, explaining that it would no longer be possible to determine the exact dates when the circulated material was filmed.
"The video does not reflect an objective and real picture, as it has been edited together from several episodes filmed at different times of year. The staff's protective clothing visible in the video suggests it was filmed over different periods. The circulated materials are accompanied by subjective comments which contain no information about the place or time of the alleged events at the mine, without providing an overall picture of the real situation at the mine," the statement said.
It has become known that the Zarechnoye mine was visited by representatives of the District Police Department, the Otyrar District Akimat, and the AMANAT party, as well as the blogger who posted the video.
At the same time, the Department of Ecology for the Turkestan Region has initiated an unscheduled inspection, during which inspectors are examining production facilities at the mine and taking soil samples for laboratory analysis.
Meanwhile, the enterprise has launched an internal official investigation to thoroughly examine all the circumstances.
As a reminder, in April the Anti-Corruption Service completed an investigation into the embezzlement of 862 million tenge during the modernisation of a uranium processing plant at the Karatau mine in the Turkestan region.
Under suspicion are the former management of Karatau LLP (a subsidiary of JSC NAC Kazatomprom), the director of the contractor company Iri building LLP, as well as representatives of the design and technical supervision.