British-Australian company to invest in copper exploration in Kazakhstan

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - The British-Australian company metal and mining company Rio Tinto will invest in exploration of copper porphyry ore in the Korgantas area in Kazakhstan's Karaganda region, Rio Tinto and Kazakh Kazgeology said in a joint message.

Kazgeology and Rio Tinto completed the transaction on the subsoil use right and created a joint venture for the Korgantas project in February, 2015.

The created joint venture - Korgantas LLP - will commence field works on the Korgantas area using advanced technologies including the airborne survey in the second quarter of 2015.

The purpose of the project is exploration, discovery and evaluation of the economically viable copper and metal deposits sufficient for large scale and long term operation of the joint venture. The amount of investments will reach about $6 million in the prospecting period, according to Trend.az.

Rio Tinto is a leading global mining group that focuses on finding, mining and processing the Earth's mineral resources.