Almaty (Kazakhstan) (AFP) – Kazakhstan’s largest copper producer Kazakhmys said Wednesday it was temporarily halting some of its operations due to the “growing number” of industrial accidents at its production facilities. Eight people have died at the group’s sites since February, seven of whom were killed when a copper mine in the Central Asian country partially collapsed.
“Kazakhmys Group is temporarily suspending production at potentially hazardous sites and is reinforcing safety measures across the board,” the company said in a statement. It said it would carry out inspections at its sites and would only reopen them when “all violations have been rectified.”
Kazakhmys says it is the world’s 20th largest producer of copper concentrate, a processed form of copper ore that has been refined to boost its copper content. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev last month ordered his government to take measures to rectify workplace safety, describing recent industrial accidents as “unacceptable” and accusing companies of not investing enough.
In October 2023, a fire at an ArcelorMittal mine in the Karaganda region killed 46 people in the worst mining disaster in Kazakhstan’s history.
© 2024 AFP
