Kazakhstan’s western Aktobe region has signed a framework agreement with China’s Suzhou Hunan New Materials to build a ferroalloy plant, which will process chromite ore.

Both parties signed a memorandum of cooperation to establish advanced chromite processing facilities in the region.

The project will be implemented in two stages, starting with a $150 million chromite concentrate processing plant. The second stage will expand into metallic chromium processing to increase value addition and industrial depth. 

In 2024, Kazakhstan mined 6 million tons of chromite, up 16% year-on-year, while ferroalloy output rose 14% to a record 1.86 million tons.