Reuters reported that Kazakhstan's refined copper and gold output rose in January to November 2012 while production of alumina, zinc and steel fell compared with the same period last year.
Data from the State Statistics Agency showed that production of refined copper rose by 7.9% YoY to 332,620 tonnes in the January to November period while refined gold output rose by 27.6%. The central bank is purchasing all of the gold refined in Kazakhstan.
Production of refined zinc slipped 0.2 percent to 292,314 tonnes and of alumina and unwrought aluminium fell by 8.7% to 1.6 million tonnes. London listed miners Kazakhmys and ENRC, as well as Glencore controlled Kazzinc account for a large part of Kazakhstan's metals production.
ArcelorMittal owns the country's only major steel plant. The steel plant in Temirtau faced a sudden shock to demand this year when Western financial sanctions on Iran closed the door on a market that accounted for a considerable portion of its sales last year.
Official data showed that Kazakhstan's overall production of crude steel fell by 21.0% YoY to 3.55 million tonnes.
