Aksu Technology LLP, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan gold miner JSC AK Altynalmas, has commenced commissioning works at the new Aksu gold recovery plant (Aksu GRP) located in the Akmola region. The purpose of commissioning works is to adjust the operation of process equipment and bring the production to design parameters.

The Aksu GRP has a feed capacity of 5 Mt of ore per year. The final product of the plant is gold doré bars. The flowsheet of ore processing at the Aksu deposit includes three-stage crushing of ore to a final particle size of 12 mm followed by two-stage milling in ball mills to final particle size of P80 71 microns. The basic process used is sorption leaching (CIL) of the crushed ore. As at the Dolinnoye gold recovery plant of the Pustynnoye project, launched in 2020, the full cycle of procedure is controlled and monitored by SCADA automated control system. Aksu GRP is the 5th gold plant of JSC AK Altynalmas constructed and launched over the last 10 years.

Open pit mining started in November 2020 in the Aksu ore field which consists of six ore areas: Zapadnyi, Tsentralnyi, Staratelskyi, Oktyabrskyi I, Oktyabrskyi II and Budennovskyi. Mining started in the Oktyabrskaya II area. The open pit design capacity is 5 Mt/y of ore from a total mined rock mass of 36.04 Mt/y  Modern equipment is used for open pit mining including Hitachi EX1900 and EX2600 excavators, Сat 777E dump trucks, wheel loaders and dozers.