Kazakhstan’s Kazchrome Launches Flotation Plant to Recover Chromium from Waste

A new flotation unit for extracting chromium from industrial waste has been launched at the Donskoy Mining and Processing Plant (GOK) in Khromtau, located in Kazakhstan’s Aktobe region. The initiative, part of the ERG Green program, was developed by Kazchrome, a subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group (ERG). Founded in 1938, Donskoy GOK operates the world’s second-largest confirmed chromium ore deposit. Most of its output supplies Kazakhstan’s ferroalloy plants in Aksu (Pavlodar region) and Aktobe. In 2024, the plant reported record output, producing 6 million tons of ore and 1.864 million tons of ferroalloys. The new flotation facility is expected to boost production by processing accumulated industrial waste. Kazchrome invested more than 20.6 billion tenge (approximately $38 million) into the project. While flotation is commonly used in non-ferrous and precious metals mining, it is rarely applied in the chromium sector. ERG’s Research and Engineering Center patented the process, which enables chromium recovery from ultrafine particles (UFPs) previously considered unprocessable. “This technology is a clear example of ERG’s approach to combining advanced global practices with in-house solutions,” said Shukhrat Ibragimov, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of ERG. “It reflects our strategy to transform legacy industrial waste into valuable resources.” The flotation unit marks the second stage of ERG’s environmental program at Donskoy GOK. In 2023, the plant launched a facility utilizing gravity separation to produce concentrate with a chromium content of at least 48.5 percent. The new unit targets ultrafine fractions remaining after gravity processing. The process involves injecting air or gas into water mixed with waste particles. Hydrophobic chromium particles attach to air bubbles, float to the surface as foam, and are collected for further treatment. According to the company, the facility will process approximately 14.5 million tons of historically accumulated waste. The project aligns with Kazakhstan’s national policy to incentivize recycling of man-made mineral formations (MMF). The government has proposed a tenfold reduction in the mineral extraction tax (MET) for companies engaged in MMF processing, as mining sites are estimated to contain 55-60 billion tons of waste stockpiles.