The Minister of Industry and Construction of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kanat Sharlapayev, announced at a briefing that after eleven rounds of negotiations, the purchase of Arcelor Mittal Temirtau has been completed, Kazinform has reported Sharlapayev stated that “$286 million is the cost of two fully functioning enterprises ArcelorMittal will not make any claims against the Government of Kazakhstan The agreement was reached within the legal framework in full compliance with international law.” Against a backdrop of ongoing incidents at ArcelorMittal Temirtau JSC President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointed out serious violations by the company The Head of State stated that consequences for the enterprise to remain in the Kazakh market were not excluded for AMT the government was already negotiating with the owners of ArcelorMittal Temirtau on the possible withdrawal of the company from the metallurgical plant These talks began after the tragic accident that occurred on November 3rd 2022 at the Lenin Mine As a result of these intensive negotiations which allowed the authorities to evaluate and audit the enterprise which did not correspond to the calculations of international consultants “This became one of the main reasons for the protracted negotiation process,” Sharlapayev said “Our goal was to purchase the plant at a fair price without incurring costly and protracted international litigation The urgency and acceleration of the negotiations were also dictated by the need to prevent the shutdown of the enterprise The agreement between the Government of Kazakhstan and ArcelorMittal can be called a mega-deal which is of exceptional importance to our country We have avoided a lot of risks faced by the governments of other countries,” the minister stressed Sharlapayev also announced three key elements of the deal: – The state has reduced the value of assets from $3.5 billion to $286 million; – Not a single tenge was spent from the state budget on the implementation of the transaction; – The new investor undertakes an obligation to the parent company to repay a short-term loan of $250 million and a long-term loan of $450 million over four years By 2024-10-07T05:00:00+01:00 KAZAKHSTAN: The first tram has been delivered for the reopening of the tramway which links the Temirtau steelworks to the city Qarmet agreed to rehabilitate the line at a cost of 10bn tenge Eight partially low-floor four-axle trams are being supplied by the QazTehna plant in Saran which primarily produces CNG and battery powered buses using kits supplied by Chinese company Yutong The trams will have air-conditioning and heating systems and LED lighting Each car will have its own livery based on different facilities of the steel plant and the city of Temirtau Qarmet is working with the Temirtau Higher Polytechnic College to recruit tram drivers with the first cohort of 12 to begin training during October KAZAKHSTAN: The first TE36A main line diesel locomotive for national railway KTZ has been rolled out at CRRC Dalian’s factory in China In October 2023 KTZ and CRRC signed a US$1·3bn framework agreement covering the supply of up to 100 main line and 100 shunting locomotives KAZAKHSTAN: The city of Pavlodar is planning to acquire up to 25 energy-efficient trams with traction batteries to help renew its fleet The order will be financed with a €10m loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development and a €4m loan from the Clean .. KAZAKHSTAN: Steelmaker Qarmet has begun work to reopen the 11 km tramway in Temirtau which was included in its acquisition of the local steelworks from ArcelorMittal Steel in December Tram operations has been suspended in February 2023 when the then owner said the line was unprofitable .. Site powered by Webvision Cloud A steelworks in central Kazakhstan associated with fatal accidents and some of the country’s dirtiest air is pledging to clean up its act.  ArcelorMittal Temirtau's longstanding critics are only likely to believe it when they see it Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met chief executive Lakshmi Mittal on September 6 to discuss improving worker safety and reducing pollution at the plant in Temirtau A readout on the presidential website stated that “Lakshmi Mittal assured Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that ArcelorMittal would invest $1 billion in Kazakhstan in the near future most of which would be directed to modernizing production.” While Tokayev stressed the company’s obligations to meet the needs of the domestic market “special attention was paid to the company's measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the statement said.  In addition to stressing its commitment to new safety and environmental measures, ArcelorMittal Temirtau said in its own statement that it was planning wind energy projects in Temirtau and would plant a million trees by 2026 One Temirtau activist contacted by Eurasianet was certain that the latest meeting between Tokayev and Mittal – their second this year and first in person – would not lead to improvements in air quality.  "Except blah blah blah nothing changes," Stanislav Voitsekhovsky surmised.   The industry-heavy Karaganda region is Kazakhstan’s emissions leader ArcelorMittal Temirtau accounts for more than a third of that burden.  This has in the past put the company in the news as a likely source of phenomena including “black snow” and magnetic soot which periodically provoke outcries in Temirtau Karaganda’s regional government said last month that it wants the company’s emissions to fall by up to 30 percent in the next three years.   “We cannot put up with the situation when 10-12 people die at work every year The outdatedness of the equipment is very high and the level of investment in modernization is 2-3 times lower compared to other enterprises,” Smailov said according to a government press release that included a photo of the premier remonstrating with management.   ArcelorMittal’s acquisition of the steelworks in Temirtau back in the 1990s was reportedly lobbied by Tokayev’s long-sitting predecessor who was part of the first generation of workers to toil there before launching a career in the Communist Party.  These days the company provides around 25,000 jobs in the Karaganda region including mines and other facilities that it owns.  Tokayev, once a loyal ally of Nazarbayev’s, is now putting distance between himself and his predecessor after emerging from the strongman’s shadow during a regime-shaking social and political meltdown in January.  Avoiding being seen as in cahoots with big business – an accusation that was often leveled at Nazarbayev – is even more pressing since the president is seeking re-election this fall.   industrial giants like ArcelorMittal Temirtau are easy targets.  During a press conference last month businessman and on/off government-critic Bulat Abilov identified the factory and several other major industrial assets as objects that could be nationalized under Kazakh law.  The basis for seizing them would be the violations that took place in their privatization But doing this would require “political will which the current leadership doesn’t have I am absolutely certain,” Abilov said.  Artyem Sochnev is a writer based in Stepnogorsk Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article and by 1945 the city had more than 25,000 inhabitants An explosion at a coal mine in central Kazakhstan last month claimed the lives of 46 workers in what has been described as the deadliest industrial accident in the country’s history co-presenters Alisher Khamidov and Peter Leonard opened by dwelling on how the public agenda has been dominated by speculation over who will end up owning the company that controlled the mine.  scrambled after the blast to inform the public that it had just signed a preliminary agreement on the transfer of ownership to the state For many, this was too little and too late. According to official figures more than 100 people have died at ArcelorMittal Temirtau facilities over 15 years Alisher wondered if this precedent might prompt the government to explore other important industrial assets privatized in less-than-transparent manner What is getting less public attention from officials, oddly enough, are questions of safety and worker rights. As economist Kuat Akizhanov noted in an article for Vlast the Indian manager of ArcelorMittal Temirtau was on a 31.3 million tenge ($67,000) salary while rank-and-file metals workers had to make do with 300,000 tenge.  A redistribution of assets is happening in Kyrgyzstan too, albeit in very different circumstances. The target of the expropriations are said to be associates of the late crime kingpin, Kamchybek Kolbayev, who was killed in a security services sweep is the process by which assets are being nationalized and then redistributed “Where wealth will end up at is more important than the legality of the issue,” Alisher concluded.  While these shenanigans are happening away from the scrutiny of the public there are other areas in which governments in Central Asia like to be seen as responding to sentiment on the street.  There is no better example of that than how various authorities are reacting to events in the Gaza Strip a pro-Palestine rally of hundreds of people took place in Bishkek Activists tried something similar in Uzbekistan but were prevented from proceeding by the authorities is adopting unusually bold language – by the standards of often quite anodyne Central Asian standards – in its support for the Palestinians This episode was produced and edited by Aigerim Toleukhanova Aigerim Toleukhanova is a journalist and researcher from Kazakhstan.  Peter Leonard is Eurasianet’s Central Asia editor Alisher Khamidov is a writer based in Bishkek.  By 2023-02-21T05:00:00 KAZAKHSTAN: Services have been suspended on the 11 km single-route tramway owned and operated by steelmaker ArcelorMittal in the city of Temirtau Already have an account? LOG IN You’ve reached your limit of content for the month Register for free now a town in central Kazakhstan living under the shadow of a giant multinational steelmaker residents don’t need to be told that there is metal in the air But the recent videos that they posted proving the magnetic qualities of the industrial dust lining their windows have helped to refocus national attention on the city’s ecological woes “Windowsill, magnet,” said a resident in a video she recorded as she moved a magnet over the dark specks on her sill “This is what we breathe,” said local environmental activist Stanislav Voitsekhovsky in another video Temirtau has been an environmental disaster zone residents fear opening their windows for the belching smoke that they say intensifies during the night.  Periodic scandals showcasing the city’s air quality force the government to talk tough with the town’s largest private employer steelworks operator ArcelorMittal Temirtau Experience has taught locals to be cynical about the potential for real improvements but the magnetic dust revelation earned the town a spot on the state news channel In a November 2 interview with the broadcaster, Voitsekhovsky described the dust as “particles of graphite that are kind of flat and have the ability to float They fly out [from the steelworks’ smokestacks] along with the smoke and settle everywhere: on windows and what is most dangerous – in the lungs.” Back in 2018, Temirtau made world news as a city with “black snow,” a phenomenon that ArcelorMittal Temirtau blamed on a lack of wind that winter the company committed to a 30 percent reduction in emissions by the end of 2024.  This past February, a huge outpouring of rose-colored smoke that engulfed the steelworks was captured on camera Days later ArcelorMittal representatives met with authorities from the ecology ministry Senior ministry official Zulfukhar Zholdasov adopted an indignant tone following the meeting threatening “severe sanctions for non-compliance [with environmental regulations] up to revocation of the permit.”  Zholdasov criticized the company for achieving an emissions reduction of less than 0.1 percent over the last five years after spending a reported 28 billion tenge ($65,000,000) on modernizations during that period.   sanctions from the state have been on the lenient side A representative of the Karaganda region’s government told Almaty-based journalist Vadim Boreiko in an interview for the documentary “Heavy Metal in Our Lungs” that the company was fined less than $15,000 for allowing the accident that caused the pinkish emission The fine that ArcelorMittal Temirtau paid for the black snow amounted to around $1.6 million.  These sums are small in comparison to the $177 million in taxes that the company paid last year – a figure that indicates strong profits despite downturns in demand resulting from the pandemic.  Temirtau has a special place in Kazakhstan’s modern history. Founding President Nursultan Nazarbayev was among the first wave of workers drafted into Temirtau during the late 1950s at the dawn of the national steel industry That placement would launch his communist party career.   When he became president, Nazarbayev persuaded Indian magnate Lakshmi Mittal to invest in the steelworks Mittal has spoken with Nazarbayev’s hand-picked successor Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at least twice this year In February better worker safety and a leveling of salary imbalances between Kazakh nationals and foreign employees during a teleconference with Mittal.  In April, they met in person Mittal presented Tokayev with “a new investment program aimed at modernizing production and significantly improving environmental performance,” according to a readout of the meeting published by the president's office.       In the past, the company has been known to pursue its critics in Temirtau. In 2018 it launched legal action against Voitsekhovsky and journalist Oleg Gusev.  Voitsekhovsky decided to apologize for videos that he published alleging environmental violations by ArcelorMittal Temirtau and thus avoided a court appearance. Gusev won his case – a surprise development that observers said testified to authorities’ anxieties over tensions in the city.   In May of this year the company signaled a change of tack by holding its first meeting with environmental activists “When it comes to environmental matters, we can only influence the number and type of trees [they] plant,” he said this story initially said Gusev's case had been thrown out Mining company ArcelorMittal Temirtau claims it was completing its nationalization by Kazakhstan’s government just days before a blast at one of its mines in the night leading into October 28 took the lives of at least 46 workers the company said a preliminary agreement on the transfer of ownership had been signed earlier the previous week have demanded a criminal investigation be opened into the company Indian-born and British-based tycoon Lakshmi Mittal A petition set up following the deadly gas explosion at the Kostenko coal mine in Karaganda an industrial city in the center of Kazakhstan accused ArcelorMittal Temirtau of “intentional inaction over ensuring the safety of employees.” ArcelorMittal Temirtau issued a brief statement to say that more than 200 of the 252 miners working there at the time had been evacuated but that number had risen to 46 confirmed deaths by October 30 Some 20 miners are being treated in the hospital Local officials have revealed that the accident occurred during a safety system check that they say failed to meet the required standards The shockwave from the explosion reportedly had a range of over two kilometers Representatives from ArcelorMittal Temirtau were notably absent among speakers at a press conference on the day of the blast ArcelorMittal Temirtau has long been a source of concern for Kazakh authorities amid allegations that it has serially committed serious violations of environmental regulations and safety standards. According to official figures Although the prospect of nationalization is raised after every incident ArcelorMittal Temirtau has typically faced little more than fines Political analyst Daniyar Ashimbayev has written that the government acted gingerly toward the company’s giant parent company for fear of getting bogged down in a drawn-out international business dispute of the type seen in the country’s oil sector This tragedy has sealed ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s fate definitively President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with the families of the victims and announced his decision to “terminate investment cooperation with … ArcelorMittal Temirtau.” “This company has turned out to be the worst in our history in terms of cooperation between the government and [a private] enterprise,” Tokayev said The government at the same time announced it was forming a commission to investigate the causes and address the consequences of the incident as well as overseeing finalization of the transfer of the company to the state ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s interests in Kazakhstan include coal mines much of it obtained during the era of privatization drives in the 1990s Ruslan Zheldibay, an assistant to Tokayev, refuted rumors circulating on social media that ArcelorMittal Temirtau would be sold to another foreign investor The question of reselling is not on the table Ashimbayev said he doubted that nationalization will resolve problems at the facilities being relinquished by ArcelorMittal Temirtau and utility infrastructure built in the Soviet era has already exhausted its service life “Wear and tear have been significantly accelerated by the lack of adequate repairs and preventive maintenance and the absence of state oversight," Ashimbayev wrote Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist A court in an industrial city in central Kazakhstan has ruled in favor of a journalist in a libel suit filed by a major international metals and mining company.  The Temirtau court on January 29 determined that online postings by Oleg Gusev about ArcelorMittal Temirtau general director Paramjit Kahlon were intended only as irreverent irony and could not therefore be deemed actionable.  At first blush, the case appears to represent a rare victory for Kazakhstan’s independent media, which is routinely cowed into submission through costly lawsuits filed by officials and rich businessmen.  Gusev has long been a thorn in the side of ArcelorMittal Temirtau but the trigger for this particular case could not have been more childish and petty On May 9, a date that marks the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany, company press secretary Alexei Agureyev posted a photo on his Facebook page showing Kahlon shaking hands with a war veteran who has written elsewhere and more seriously about what he deems to be ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s harmful practices describing him as a sympathizer of Nazi-allied Ukrainian nationalist militants during World War II He used the disparaging term Banderovets — a Russian neologism derived from the name of wartime Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera — to refer to the Indian-born executive.  posting images of Kahlon alongside one of Conchita Wurst the drag persona of Austrian singer Thomas Neuwirth who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 Gusev had fed the two pictures into an online application called Twins or Not and came up with a similarity ranking of 66 percent.  patience snapped at ArcelorMittal Temirtau The company argued that by likening Kahlon to Conchita Wurst Gusev was making improper suggestions about the mining executive’s sexual orientation and had thereby “discredited the business reputation of the plaintiff.” Suggesting that Kahlon who formerly headed an ArcelorMittal subsidiary in Ukraine was a supporter of Bandera was also an insult A psychological and philological expert gave testimony in the Temirtau court to argue that there was no evidence to support the miner’s claims Gusev has said that he believes the libel case was a reprisal for the reporting he has done about ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s damaging impact on the environment.  The antagonists may be set for another round in the courts police revealed that they had opened a criminal case against Galymzhan Kunakbayev a senior executive at ArcelorMittal Temirtau on suspicion of unlawfully obstructing Gusev’s professional activities Gusev claims that Kunakbayev threatened to cancel a deal with an ArcelorMittal Temirtau contractor that employs his son-in-law as a form of intimidation People in the independent media scene have said that Gusev’s case could serve as a valuable precedent by upholding the position of a journalist against that of a major industrial concern.  It is suggested in some quarters that the ArcelorMittal Temirtau libel case may actually really be part of a larger and unseen squabble among business and political elites That would make the significance of the case less to do with media rights than politics.  for those concerned with the viability of a free press be to see a change in libel laws and the creation of a more level playing field for non-state-funded outlets Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter Anna Wilhelmi  a fire broke out in the Kostenko mine at a depth of 700 metres followed by an explosion of a methane-air mixture 201 of 252 miners on shift were able to exit on their own 24 of whom had injuries and needed medical help The rescue operation continued till Tuesday All 46 of the missing miners have been found dead Many of them had issues with safety and fatal accidents in the past In 2019 there was another accident with a deformation and collapsed roof at the metallurgic plant two floor slabs with a total area of 72 square metres collapsed in the forge and press shop of Kurylysmet LLP but the conditions and company’s attitude towards workers’ safety have not improved and “despite repeated warnings and instructions from state authorities the situation is not getting better.” 1.3 billion dollars will have to be invested immediately to ensure “resolvement of industrial and labour safety issues modernisation of all equipment and expansion of production.” as head the coal department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau For more news and analysis from Central Asia, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, Linkedin or Instagram Your comment will be revised by the site if needed When journalists in Kazakhstan face off against powerful corporate interests media rights advocates are watching with interest as one reporter in the industrial town of Temirtau dukes it out with an industrial behemoth that ranks among the country’s largest investors the pendulum appeared to swing in favor of Oleg Gusev when police revealed that they had opened a criminal case against Galymzhan Kunakbayev on suspicion of unlawfully obstructing a journalist’s professional activities The venue for this drama is particularly striking an industrial town that is home to some 210,000 people was where 78-year-old President Nursultan Nazarbayev began his career as a metalworker who has worked for several publications including business weekly Expert local newspaper Temirtausky Rabochy and business TV channel Atameken has long been a thorn in ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s side His reporting on the coal-mining and iron-manufacturing giant has dwelled in part on the company’s alleged violation of technical requirements and safety regulations These have led to the despoiling of the local environment ArcelorMittal Temirtau has in the past batted away accusations that its activities have caused unsustainable levels of pollution. In January, for example, the company was criticized when the snow in Temirtau turned black The company protested that it was not the only local source of pollution; it pointed to the growing number of cars in the town and said dirty particles were also pumped out by household heating systems Gusev has claimed that ArcelorMittal Temirtau earlier this year demanded a halt to his critical coverage Gusev says ArcelorMittal Temirtau then followed up by offering an advertising deal in exchange for his employer putting a stop to the articles the journalist declined to divulge to Eurasianet which among the outlets where he works received this offer ArcelorMittal Temirtau has declined to respond in any detail to these and other allegations leveled by Gusev would say only that Gusev regularly engaged in the “dissemination of inaccurate information and straightforward fakes.” ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s patience seems to have snapped in May Gusev posted side-by-side photos on Facebook of Austrian drag queen performer Conchita Wurst and ArcelorMittal Temirtau general director Paramjit Kahlon commenting on a purported physical similarity between the two the company filed suit against the reporter Police opened their criminal case a few hours after the post was put online “Among the more than 350 companies servicing ArcelorMittal Temirtau they found one that employed my son-in-law and put it on a blacklist,” Gusev told Eurasianet “Kunakbayev [the senior executive] told me on October 3 that they would lift the block on the contractor if I apologized to ArcelorMittal Temirtau and stopped my criticism.” Gusev alleges that he and the company hatched some kind of written agreement – a document that has now been forwarded to the police as evidence of purported blackmail Were Kunakbayev found by a court to have used intimidation to silence the journalist, he could face up to two years in prison also declined to comment on this police investigation.  “A legal evaluation of this situation will be given in court Let us wait for their decision,” Agoureev told Eurasianet by telephone Olga Didenko, a lawyer at Internews Kazakhstan, told Eurasianet that were Gusev’s case to make headway, it would mark a critical precedent for the country’s independent journalists, who routinely face intimidation from businesspeople and officials in the form of financially crippling lawsuits The momentum is on the reporter’s side so far The case had been passed on to a higher authority which suggests at first glance that the investigation has legs since it will be a precedent that will help Kazakh journalists in future,” she said we have other examples of cases that have been downgraded or closed." According to data from the General Prosecutor's Office, police have over the past three years registered more than 10 cases of “obstruction of the lawful professional activities of journalists.” All have been discontinued for various reasons Gusev was caustic about ArcelorMittal Temirtau calling it an “an influential company that freely violates environmental “It always gets away with it,” he said.  When Temirtau’s snow began to turn black in January, an activist called Stanislav Voitsekhovsky created a series of videos claiming to document how the miner may have been responsible. In one video, created with a drone, he featured aerial shots documenting the state of disrepair at an ArcelorMittal Temirtau power plant. But after he was slapped with a lawsuit, Voitsekhovsky was compelled to issue a public apology The videos are no longer available on his channel Another YouTube user, Zhanibek Zhanabayev, has uploaded similar footage showing the sheer volume of acrid smoke pumped into Temirtau’s skies by ArcelorMittal Temirtau facilities a representative of the Karaganda Ecological Museum has told Eurasianet that when local authorities conduct their annual inspections of ArcelorMittal Temirtau plants they are routinely fined for environmental violations existing environmental regulations are outdated and not able to keep the miner to high standards That notwithstanding, the company was in January fined 600 million tenge ($1.6 million) by Karaganda environmental officials following the black snow ArcelorMittal Temirtau denied responsibility in defiance of expert evaluations Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based journalist.  “33 mine workers have died at the mines of the coal department of IspatKarmet (now ArcelorMittal Temirtau, AMT – Editor’s note) owned by Lakshmi Mittal, a British Indian billionaire, including 23 fatalities at the Shakhtinskaya Mine. It turns out that one million [tonnes] of fuel costs three human lives,” the media wrote in 2004 following yet another tragedy that unfolded in the mines of Karaganda region which belongs to AMT as well as other seven mines AMT-related changes have been made after all: authorities of the republic have changed their behaviour and rhetoric The government has made a deal with Lakshmi Mittal on conditions that remain undisclosed to the public Karmetkombinat (Karaganda metallurgical combine, now is part of AMT) is an enterprise well-known to Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is a qualified blast furnaceman. He began his labour and political career at Karmet After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the 90s of last century, Karmet went through hard times. “The very existence of the combine was in question,” Nazarbayev recalled “The combine was in debt: to power engineers and marketing of products because all plants that used metals were down owner of Mittal Steel established in 1976 (ArcelorMittal since 2006) Mittal looked rather sound: his company grew rapidly since 1989 the ex-president had to urge the investor personally to acquire one of the largest companies of Kazakhstan “Why did he doubt it? We did not have laws protecting investors. There was no order in the country. And he trusted me personally,” said Nursultan Nazarbayev Mittal also told what he had to get through when he acquired Karmet. “I slept in my coat the first night there (in Karaganda – Editor’s note) and the following day I took a bucket bath,” the investor said But his hardships have paid off in spades. Now ArcelorMittal Temirtau helps ArcelorMittal, one of the largest steel-producing and mining companies in the world, to earn billions of dollars (profit at the end of the second quarter of 2023 was 1.86 billion dollars), while Mittal ranks 93rd on the list of the richest people in the world with assets worth 17.7 billion dollars Privatised AMT enterprises have always had tragedies leaving fatalities But authorities have failed to raise a question of nationalisation of AMT and exclusion of a foreign investor when five workers died at the Kazakhstanskaya Mine Officials started to talk about a possible return of AMT to the government property President Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev spoke more categorically “I have ordered to stop investment cooperation with AMT The company turned out to be the worst in our history in terms of collaboration between the government and the enterprise.” Voices rose with indignation in the media scene, “Why didn’t we say goodbye to Mittal before?” The government hastened to assure that the documents on the transfer of AMT to the government property were signed before the October tragedy. According to the AMT’s press release dated October 29 negotiations on transfer of ownership of ArcelorMittal Temirtau to the government started a few months before: “Last week A government commission was established to find out the causes of the accident and to recover from the emergency at the Kostenko Mine The General Prosecutor’s Office started a probe into safety violations during mining operations Authorities have assured that they would thoroughly investigate the causes of the accident authorities have already named the ‘main villains’ by means of media resources the next day after the accident at the Kostenko Mine the YouTube channel ‘Teleradiocomplex of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan’ published a documentary ‘Ochag smerti’ (translated as ‘Locus of death’) about the tragedy at the Kostenko Mine The film contained a comment by Serik Akhmetov prime minister of Kazakhstan convicted of corruption in 2015 “I think the state should draw attention of the international community in order to hold AMT management and owners liable However, the things that were not shown in the film were even more remarkable. Journalist and founder of the YouTube channel ‘Za nami uzhe vyyekhali’ (translation: They are going to get us) Dmitry Dubovitsky has drawn attention to the fact that another fragment of Akhmetov’s interview has been spread on the internet before the official release of ‘Ochag smerti’ “He [Lakshmi Mittal] has certainly enjoyed political support of the ex-president It’s obvious why he has been given such preferences,” said ex-prime minister in the fragment that was not included into the final version of the ‘presidential’ film Dubovitsky does not believe that some employee of Akorda could share ex-prime minister’s accusations against Nazarbayev on the internet without the knowledge of the administration previously there was no public criticism of the first president by high offices Yet it is still unclear how the story would end for the ‘main villains’ Mittal and Nazarbayev and whether they would be prosecuted or not Members of Parliament of Kazakhstan decided not to keep silent. On November 1, parliamentarian Arman Kalykov read out a request related to the tragedy at the Kostenko Mine MPs also proposed to lift the moratorium on auditing large companies this is how the risk of repeated tragedies at hazardous enterprises could be minimised Parliamentarians have drawn attention to an important thing: there are only 260 state industrial safety inspectors per 9.6 million of active population in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan could avoid this number of tragedies at mines if it followed existing legal requirements “One of the duties of ArcelorMittal Temirtau was to implement preventive measures and prompt response to failures These duties have been set forth in the law ‘On civil protection’,” the lawyer said Financial analyst Arman Beisembaev also said that the AMT owner did not follow existing standards “The owner of the enterprise should have invested in safety owners usually do not do it unless they are forced to The reasonable question is why the labour inspection has overlooked violations despite voices saying that accidents would be inevitable Now we should deal with it,” Beisembaev said Meanwhile, analysts of Kursiv Research have arrived at a conclusion that financial indicators of AMT do not confirm the point that Lakshmi Mittal’s structures have only pumped money from the asset, without investing in its development. “The average investment-to-revenue ratio of AMT in 10 years is nearly 12 per cent. This is slightly less than the same ratio of a similar mining-and-metallurgical player, which is, like AMT, mines and concentrates iron ores, and has been established back in the Soviet period: the decade-long rate of investment of SSGPO (subsidiary of Eurasian Resources Group, ERG) is nearly 14 per cent,” analysts said. Over a decade, according to Kursiv Research, AMT’s minimal investment in fixed assets was 39 billion tenge in 2015, or 176 million dollars (with revenue in the amount of 350 billion tenge, or 1.6 billion dollars). “If we believe the statements made by the AMT management, safety issues have never been ignored. In the middle of 2023, it became known that nearly 30 per cent of investments addressed safety projects. The reason of frequent accidents and poor safety of miners should be sought in how effectively those investment projects have been implemented,” analysts suggested. According to the chair of the industrial union of coal miners ‘Kazugleprof’, Marat Mirgayazov, miners of Kazakhstan use obsolete equipment and follow outdated technologies of the Soviet period. The money that should have been allocated to researches could be spent on additional profits to the company’s shareholders. “We dig deeper mines with different conditions. But we do not have necessary researches. We should set specific tasks, have specific figures agreed and set forth in law to determine the amounts meant for safety issues and researches. We do not have a basis, research institutes in the country. You cannot work in mines without a research background,” Mirgayazov said. He emphasised that representatives of miners should take part in the budgeting process. “They should stand up for occupation safety issues, endorse them, and then monitor them. So that no one could even think about diverting money to different goals. Lives and health should be top priority. This is the only way to stop the chain of tragedies,” Mirgayazov said. The process of handover of industrial giants to state ownership could become an expensive (the investor will not leave empty-handed), risky (the investor may file a case to international court) and troublesome (the state machinery would bear a burden of new responsibility) idea. Yet the government has ventured to nationalise the AMT. Why? “Because this is a socially sensitive issue,” Arman Beisembaev said. “Owner Lakshmi Mittal is not our citizen, and authorities could get it in the neck from the public. People could rise up, which no one needs today. So, the task now is to deprive the owner of assets.” This work should be done as carefully as possible so that Mittal does not have any reason to go to international court and demand the return of his assets. “If the company is deprived of its assets by force, via the so-called hostile takeover, they would surely be discontented. But I don’t think the state would act like this. The company will be probably paid some compensation to solve this issue amicably,” the financial analyst shared his hypothesis. According to him, the investment attractiveness of Kazakhstan will not suffer from the AMT situation: “What the government is doing now is morally right. It does not resemble a hostile takeover. Investors see it as the state manifesting its will. The government says, ‘If you are a bad owner, if you pose a risk to my citizens, we will take appropriate measures’.” “The second stage after nationalisation, after all anti-crisis measures have been taken, would be handover to another owner,” Arman Beisembaev said. Since authorities do not provide details about the deal with the AMT owner, experts have nothing but guesswork about the process organisation. The first possible scenario is the handover to one of private giants of the mining and metals sector of the republic. “In this scenario, the most logical way would be the sale of ERG asset, whose structure already has the iron ore producer,” analysts of Kursiv Research said, and reminded that ERG has marketing problems as their Russian partner is under sanctions. The second scenario is the handover of the asset to Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna, which has experience in industrial management and has a subsidiary in mining. “But [the subsidiary] focuses on development projects, while work with the large ongoing vertically integrated business would be a serious challenge for the management of the national company,” analysts pointed out the drawback of the scenario. The most probable option, according to them, would be the third scenario – the enterprise would belong to the state, while a private sector company would be involved for management. “This scenario is easier to implement (less transaction costs for assets valuation, less time for formulation of an action plan) and relatively cheaper (private investor would require counter obligations from the government in return for the demand to save jobs),” analysts said in favour of their viewpoint. notify us by selecting that text and pressing Ctrl+Enter hosts Aigerim Toleukhanova and Alisher Khamidov discuss the Uzbekistan president’s surprising response to new evidence of forced labor Coal-mining deaths are nothing unusual in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan but the governments are beginning to hold investors responsible And a Russian who fled to Kazakhstan lands himself in trouble for offering tips on how to pick up hot local girls editor of the independent website Turkmen News and why the country will not build any new gas export pipelines while Putin still rules.  Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts Parliamentarians in Kazakhstan’s usually somnolent legislature have accused a major foreign investor of using legal loopholes to exploit workers and economize on salaries On November 7, a group of Majlis deputies reportedly addressed the prime minister and the general prosecutor with pleas to file an investigation into employment practices at ArcelorMittal Temirtau Previous pledges by the company to improve worker conditions have gone unmet ArcelorMittal Temirtau, one of the country’s largest industrial concerns, is situated in the Karaganda region in a location generally considered something of an ecological black hole Labor in the coal mines is considered highly perilous and harmful to employees’ health which is why legislation envisions greater pay for that type of work MPs maintain that ArcelorMittal Temirtau is skirting its obligations by outsourcing low-skilled work to employees of unrelated companies This enables the miner to avoid paying additional payment for certain kinds of work said ArcelorMittal Temirtau has been steadily increasing the share of temporary workers while at the same time shedding its permanent workforce The period from 2003 through to 2016 has seen the departure of many skilled metalworkers and miners who have moved on to other companies in Russia “There are currently 650 people working as outstaffers,” Bizhanova said Bizhanova said the temporary workers operating in high-risk positions are not receiving their due pay a fact she described as a violation of constitutionally guaranteed rights As for ArcelorMittal Temirtau, it has sought to display its goodwill by promising an 8-10 percent increase in salaries for its workers starting from January The company said workers at a range of subsidiaries would benefit from the pay increase Salaries for workers in high-risk positions will start from a minimum of 77,000 tenge (almost $210) “We were one of the first to support the initiative of the head of state to increase minimal salaries This decision was taken collectively,” ArcelorMittal Temirtau general director Paramjit Kahlon said last month It is debatable whether this will be enough to avoid future industrial actions In December 2017, hundreds of ArcelorMittal Temirtau employees downed their tools and refused to leave their workplace until demands for sharp pay increases were met The strike was called off after a few days when management agreed to hike pay by 30 percent — considerably short of the twofold increase that the workers had been demanding Merely incremental pay increases and charges of tricksy jumping through loopholes mean more testy confrontations between workers and management likely lie ahead We take no responsibility for the accuracy of the translation 2016Around 2000 subcontract workers at ArcelorMittal Temirtau in Kazakhstan have not been getting their wages because of the company’s extensive debts to its contractors the major mining and metallurgical company in Kazakhstan has been underpaying its 24 contractors for three years which has resulted in contractors delaying wages to their workers The average wage of the ArcelorMittal Temirtau contractor worker is around 35-40 thousand tenge (US$100-115) per month Sixty per cent of the affected subcontract workers are members of the Temirtau City Union affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union through the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s debt to its contractors has been discussed several times at meetings of the Sectoral Committee for Social Partnership and Labour Relations in the Steel and Mining Industry over the past year Representatives of ArcelorMittal Temirtau participated in these meetings Every month the company pays less than fifty per cent of its debts so the total debt keeps on growing and reached 903.5 million tenge (US$ 2.61 million) by 15 February 2016 The contractors are dependent on ArcelorMittal Temirtau and so do not pursue litigation or apply to the public prosecutor's office for fear of losing their contracts or being fined themselves as happened in July 2015 trade unions are demanding that ArcelorMittal Temirtau pay debts to its contractors immediately and consider increasing cost of their prices Chairman of the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan “The social and labour relations based on social partnership mutually acceptable combination of workers’ and employers’ interests can provide a sustainable economic and social development of industry enterprises.” the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan once again raised this issue at the meeting of the Republican Tripartite Committee for Social Partnership and Social and Labour Relations and the regional authorities should consider the issue and report results to the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan by 18 April IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliates represent over 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining We take up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world © Copyright 2018 - IndustriALL - We care about your personal information and data. Take a look at our Privacy Policy 2017Three workers were killed and another three seriously injured on 31 August at JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s Kazakhstanskaya mine in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan IndustriALL mourns the victims of the coalmine explosion and joins the Mineworkers’ Union of Korgau to demand that the coalmine administration improves health and safety standards The Miners' Union of Korgau at ArcelorMittal Temirtau is affiliated to IndustriALL through the Trade Union of Workers of Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan 136 workers were underground at a depth of 600 meters when the accident occurred due to a methane explosion Three workers were at the site of the accident; their bodies were found by rescuers and brought to the surface Another three injured workers have been hospitalized Another miner is undergoing outpatient treatment The mine stopped operation and staff began procedures for de-gassing the mine as the gas concentration in the mine was 70 per cent instead of the allowed 4 per cent Such conditions greatly complicated the rescuers’ work A special commission has been formed to investigate the accident It includes representatives of the trade union the department of industrial safety and the Ministry of Labour of Kazakhstan the union is communicating with relatives of the victims to find out what financial assistance they need Then the union will negotiate financial assistance with the administration since it is not part of the collective agreement The chair of the Mineworkers’ Union Korgau at ArcelorMittal Temirtau “Our trade union is constantly talking to the management about the general fact that the technical equipment at the mine is lagging behind the Russian and Ukrainian mines there is a lack of staff at the Kazakhstanskaya mine of 400 workers that also affects health and safety It is also important to train employees and improve their skills.” IndustriALL participates in a Joint Global Health and Safety Committee with ArcelorMittal which is focused on ensuring high health and safety standards at the company’s mining and steel operations around the globe wrote in his letter to the president of the Trade Union of Mining & Metallurgy Workers of Republic of Kazakhstan Asylbek Nuralin: “We demand that JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau which operates as a subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal adopt stringent health and safety measures in the Kazakhstanskaya mine IndustriALL Global Union will contact ArcelorMittal immediately to remind the company of its obligations under the Joint Global Health and Safety Committee.” The Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held a meeting with Vijay Goyal Adviser of the Vice President of the company Alikhan Smailov noted that within the framework of the memorandum signed between the Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of Kazakhstan and AMT the Kazakh side invited independent international consultants to conduct financial technical and ecological audits of the enterprise The Prime Minister also added that an appropriate schedule of due diligence has been sent to ArcelorMittal Temirtau Vijay Goyal expressed his readiness to provide full cooperation to all verification activities Stay updated about the events of the Prime minister and the Government of Kazakhstan - subscribe to the official Telegram channel Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov held a meeting with Vijay Goyal Alikhan Smailov pointed out to the company's management the serious omissions in ensuring industrial safety highlighted the problem of negative impact of the plant on the environment as well as raised the issue of insufficient investment in modernization of production The Prime Minister demanded that comprehensive measures be taken to remedy the situation Vijay Goyal expressed his sincere regrets for the recent emergency accident that led to the death of ArcelorMittal Temirtau employees He noted that he had specifically come to Kazakhstan to personally investigate the situation and develop a package of additional measures to address the problematic issues The Prime Minister stressed that the fulfillment of the company's commitments will be under special control of the Government at the end of the meeting Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov held a meeting with Vijay Goyal Alikhan Smailov demanded to ensure the stability of the plant employment of workers and safety of their work He stressed that it was impossible to reduce production volumes and lose markets for Kazakhstani products Vijay Goyal said he was ready to fulfill all the requirements Negotiations on further activities of the enterprise will be continued in the near future Kazakhstan Astana Akorda President The Constitution Strategies and programs Constitutional Laws Executive Office of the President About the Executive Office Structure of the Executive Office Presidential Commissions Presidential Councils Schedule of the meetings with citizens Ethics Commissioner Events Press Office of the President Contacts About the Secretary of State Events Speeches Orders About the Security Council National security Events State of the nation address The Head of State has visited one of Karaganda region’s largest enterprises specializing in manufacturing rolled ferrous metals The President of Kazakhstan got acquainted with the technologies for producing long products and was informed of further plans for the metallurgical plant’s growth Nursultan Nazarbayev was informed about the reconstruction plans for TPP-1 and TPP-2 as well as solutions to ensure the region’s environmental safety the Head of State met and spoke with the plant’s employees - Now I am overwhelmed with special feelings on the territory of the plant For the first time I stepped outside of the entrance checkpoint in 1958 the President of Kazakhstan shared his memories Nursultan Nazarbayev noted the hard work of metallurgists and workers of the plant stressing that he always keeps the situation around Temirtau and the plant under constant control the Head of State reminded the company's management of the social responsibility of business for improving the quality of life of citizens the President of Kazakhstan pointed to the need to increase the number of medical educational and sports facilities in the town Representatives of the plant's labour team expressed support for Nursultan Nazarbayev’s initiatives and the state programs implemented in the country On further measures of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of human rights The First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan About National Symbols of Kazakhstan National Flag of Kazakhstan National Emblem of Kazakhstan National Anthem of Kazakhstan Articles and interviews Kassym-Jomart Tokayev got acquainted with the work of the hot-dip galvanizing and aluminizing factory of “ArcelorMittal Temirtau” JSC steel plant The company’s Executive Director Vadim Basin told President Tokayev about the organization of the production process and the principles of equipment operation The plant produces rolled and sheet products Its total production capacity is 700 thousand tons of products per year The President inspected the finished products of the plant and the loading line Galvanized steel sheet is one of the most popular construction materials in industry and construction These metallurgical products have a high added-value ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s CEO PK Biju Nair informed the Head of State about the company’s future development prospects and measures taken to reduce environmental emissions “This company is the flagship of Kazakhstan's metallurgy The First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev started his activity here We set the goal of increasing production capacity I have just been informed about new investment projects The company faces considerable challenges that need to be gradually solved,” the President of Kazakhstan stressed Then Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had a warm conversation with the employees of the steel plant and wished them success