Kazakhstan has discovered a new rare earth deposit in its Karaganda region, with potential resources of nearly a million tons, Kazinform News Agency reports.

According to the country’s Industry and Construction Ministry, LLP Tsentrgeolsemka’s exploration at Kuirektykol site identified several promising areas with large reserves of rare earth metals estimated at around a million tons.

Kuirektykol site is located 300km southeast from capital Astana in Karkaraly district, Karaganda region and 100km northeast from Karkaraly town.

In terms of mineralization, the most promising areas are Irgiz and Dos 2, with the total content of rare earth elements exceeding 0.1% or higher, said the Ministry.

The preliminary assessment of reserves in the area of Irgiz based on the core and quantitative analyses for rare-earth elements revealed the presence of metals of nearly 800,000 tons, with the average content of above 0.1%.

According to the Industry and Construction Ministry, the even-larger Zhana Kazakhstan strata-bound area, which includes Kuirektykol site, is projected to hold over 20 million tons of rare earth metals at a depth of up to 300 meters, with the average content of rare earth elements at 700 grams per ton.