Kazakhstan has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US government in the field of critical minerals, the Central Asian country’s presidential press service said on Thursday.
The document was signed by both Yersayin Nagaspayev, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Industry and Construction, and US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at a meeting in Washington earlier, the Press Office of the President of Kazakhstan stated in a post on X.Also present at the signing was Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who arrived in the US on Wednesday.
The signing, according to the press service, took place after a meeting between Tokayev and representatives of the US administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs Sergio Gor.
In a separate statement, Tokayev emphasized the “excellent opportunities” between Kazakhstan and the US to further bolster their strategic partnership through economic cooperation.
Rare earth opportunity
The MOU signing represents another key strategic move by the US to secure prospective supplies of rare earths to chip away at China’s dominance in this sector.
Kazakhstan, while still mostly underexplored to this day, may present an enticing opportunity. Earlier this year, the deputy chairman of its Ministry of Industry and Construction said the Central Asian nation has “promising reserves” of rare earth minerals, and if forecasts are confirmed, it could become one of the world’s top 10 producers.
This claim is backed by its discovery of the large Kuyrektykol deposit, which is estimated to contain 800,000 tonnes of rare earth metals. If confirmed, the deposit would place Kazakhstan behind only China and Brazil by reserve size.
According to official geologic data, Kazakhstan currently has more than 980 deposits of solid minerals. Since 2018, it has issued 2,906 exploration licenses and 111 production licenses, but only a dozen of the sites are undergoing exploration activity.
Over the past five years, Kazakhstan has become a key hunting ground for miners, attracting about $1 billion in private investment into this sector.
Tungsten ties
Last month, Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is involved in talks for a US company to access two of Kazakhstan’s largest deposits for tungsten, valued at over billions of dollars.
According to Bloomberg’s report, Commerce Secretary Lutnick has been facilitating negotiations between Cove Kaz Capital Group and Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund about a bid to develop the deposits, though no details have been finalized. A Chinese state-owned firm is also competing for the projects, it said.
A prospective deal would deepen the US company’s ties to Kazakhstan. Earlier this year, Cove Kaz formed a joint venture with JSC Qazgeology, Kazakhstan’s national geological exploration company, for a rare earth project in the Kostanay region.
The Trump administration also bolstered its ties to the Central Asian nation this year, when the Commerce Department helped broker a $4.2 billion rail deal.
While the US Geological Survey (USGS) does not have Kazakhstan near the top of the world’s top countries with recoverable deposits of tungsten, it it still estimated to have over 2 million tonnes of the mineral in reserve. The new mines would produce supply for 30 to 40 years, according to sources cited by Bloomberg.
Currently, China accounts for some 80% of global production of tungsten concentrate, US Geological Survey data shows.