Kazakhstan's Critical Mineral Boom Collides With State Control

Western mining companies and investors continue to flock to Kazakhstan in search of deals, drawn by the country’s abundance of minerals and its comparatively well-developed legal framework. But Astana, buoyed by Washington’s and Brussels’ increasing interest in critical minerals, has begun tinkering with the mining sector’s legal framework, making incremental edits to increase the state’s role and ensure the government gets a larger cut of the profits. Changes to the tax code and sub-soil use law enacted over the last…