"There are more than 8 thousand deposits on the state balance in Kazakhstan, of which 317 are hydrocarbons (oil, gas condensate), 910 are solid minerals, more than 3 thousand are common minerals and about 4 thousand are underground waters. There are problems of reserves supply to the city-forming enterprises, low replenishment of mineral reserves and decline in production at so-called "mature" deposits. Geologists follow the "unspoken" rule: "produced one ton - make up for two." To date, the replenishment coefficient for solid minerals is 0.13, and for hydrocarbons - 0.9 (excluding the Kashagan field)," he said.
Drop in oil production by 1 million tons is annually observed in the Kyzylorda region. In the medium term, reduction is expected in the Aktobe and Mangistau regions. In recent decades, such large lead-zinc deposits as Shemonaikhinskoye, Yubileyno-Snegirikhinskoye, Zyryanovskoye have exhausted in East Kazakhstan, and depletion of reserves at the Orlovskoye, Maleevskoye, Tishinskoye and Ridder-Sokolnoye deposits is expected by 2025-2040.
"We must intensify exploration, since at least 10-15 years elapse between the discovery and launch of a new field,” he said.
Photo source: picture from an open source