On December 17, a strike began at mine No. 65 of the "South Kazakhstan" branch of the "Kazakhmys" corporation ("Zhezkazgantsvetmet") in the Ulytau region. More than 250 miners refused to go underground. The workers expressed the need for a salary increase and improved working conditions. An employee of "Zhezkazgantsvetmet," Kairat Bauken, reported on his Facebook that the protest started around noon when the third shift was supposed to descend into the mine. However, the miners declined to continue working.
According to the press service of "Kazakhmys," the workers of the third shift demanded a doubling of their wages. The corporation's general director and representatives of trade union organizations met with the strikers. During the meeting, they informed the miners that "the minimum wage at 'Zhezkazgantsvetmet' is 363,000 tenge (for a cleaner at RSMU), the median is 650,000 tenge, while the median salary in the Ulytau region is 404,105 tenge, and in Kazakhstan as a whole, it is half that—285,677 tenge."
The corporation claims that "Kazakhmys" has already announced a salary increase starting January 2025 (the announcement on the website is dated December 17, but the time of publication is not specified, so it is unclear when the announcement was made: before or after the strike began).
"The indexing will be done at the level of inflation officially established by the Bureau of National Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2024. With an 8.5% salary increase, the average salary across the corporation will rise to 822,000 tenge (from 730,431 tenge in 2024), and for underground workers, it will reach 1,303,000 tenge (up from 1,202,000 tenge in 2024)," the company's statement reads.
The corporation also asserts that "Kazakhmys" has "increased salaries annually since 2020." "During this period, the average salary level has risen by 151%—from 326,196 tenge in 2020 to current projections for 2025, representing a 2.5-fold increase. Meanwhile, the difference from the average salary in the Ulytau region (515,543 tenge) is 59%, and from the national average (390,328 tenge) is 110%," the company states.
The corporation believes that a further sharp increase in salaries would create an even greater wage gap with the region and the industry, ultimately leading to "non-competitiveness and the conservation of several of the company's mines."
Additionally, as part of preparing a new collective agreement for the period 2025–2029, "Kazakhmys Corporation" promises to enhance and improve the social package for employees. The plans include:
- increasing the amounts of material assistance and compensation for sanatorium-resort treatment;
- introducing additional benefits for parents raising children with developmental disabilities, including rehabilitation for children with disabilities, covering 954 individuals;
- increasing the number of children sent to summer camps to 1,500 (an additional 200 children);
- expanding the pool of employees eligible for voluntary health insurance. An additional approximately 13,500 individuals working under normal labor conditions (31,000 employees in 2024, 44,500 in 2025, ensuring 100% coverage of the workforce), with a total insurance amount of 2.5 million tenge per year per person.
"Kazakhmys Corporation" ranks second in the Forbes Kazakhstan "75 Largest Private Companies in Kazakhstan (December 2024)" list. The corporation, operating since 2014, includes mines, enrichment plants, coal pits, and copper smelting plants, consolidated into three production sites and active in the Karaganda, Ulytau, Zhambyl, and Abai regions.
The main activities of the corporation involve the extraction and processing of copper ore into cathode copper and copper wire rod, refining, and selling precious metals and other by-products. The primary buyers of copper products are from China and Turkey, while all the gold produced is purchased by the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The main product of the company, accounting for 58.9% of revenue, is cathode copper, with copper concentrate contributing another 12.8% and gold 12.6%.
According to the financial report for 2023, 70% of the corporation is owned by Vladimir Kim (No. 4 in the ranking of the 75 richest businessmen in Kazakhstan - 2024), while 30% belongs to Eduard Ogay (No. 13 in the ranking of the 75 richest businessmen in Kazakhstan - 2024).
P. S. After the publication of this material, the director of the PR department of "Kazakhmys," Arman Tleukenov, contacted the editorial office and stated that the decision to increase salaries for the corporation's employees was made prior to the strike.