LONDON (Alliance News) - Kemin Resources PLC and Goldbridges Global Resources PLC said Tuesday that they had received approval from authorities to include their projects in Kazakhstan's so-called State Programme On Forced Industrial-Innovative Development.
The programme is part of a government effort to boost projects with a strategic importance for Kazakhstan's economy, and was established in 2010.
Kemin's plans to build a processing plant for its Smirnovskoe and Drozhilovskoe rare metal deposits in Kazakhstan were approved for inclusion, as was Goldbridges' Sekisovskoe mine development project.
The Kazakh Ministry of Industry and New Technologies will prepare a report on the projects, which it will then present to the Kazakhstan State Commission on Modernisation for final approval. Upon this approval, the government will build infrastructure to connect the Kemin plant to the Bukhara-Ural gas pipeline, electricity, water and transportation networks.
For the GoldBridges project, it will build infrastructure to expand the current connection of the Sekisovskoe project to electricity and transportation networks.
The Kazakh government has recently made legislative changes to increase state support for projects included in the programme.
Under the new legislation, included projects are exempt from income tax and land tax for ten years, and exempt from property tax for eight years.
Companies will receive a reimbursement of up to 30% of the project's capital expenditures and have guarantees that the tax rate and state tariffs will not change for ten years. Additionally, they will be able to hire foreign staff for the construction period without applying for labour quotas.
Shares in Kemin were trading up 7.5% at 9.00 pence, and shares in Goldbridges were trading down 9.7% at 2.80 pence Tuesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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