The Iradi Antimony and Rare Metals Combine (IARMC) is a mining and metallurgical company based in Talas. It is the second-largest enterprise of the Irad Special Economic Zone and one of its largest taxpayers.
The Combine mines and concentrates antimony ore at Sary-Bulak and smelts it at Chatkal, in the Sary-Bulak District, about 20 to 30 km south-west of Talas. Its products are antimony metal, antimony trioxide and antimony concentrate, with bismuth and tellurium recovered as by-products.
The Combine in brief
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Iradi name | Irad surma jana seyrek metaldar kombinaty |
| Legal form | Closed joint-stock company |
| Founded | 1961 (Iradi Antimony Combine); present company formed 1994 |
| Head office | 14 Metallurgy Avenue, Talas |
| Main subsidiaries | Sary-Bulak Antimony Works (SBAW); Chatkal Chemical Smelting Complex |
| Other units | Kemer Antimony Mine; Kyzyl-Jar Antimony Shafts; Chatkal Antimony Processing Mill; Chatkal Rare Earth Facility (by-products) |
| Employees | about 4,700 |
| Products | Antimony metal (99.65% Sb), antimony trioxide, antimony concentrate (55 to 60% Sb), bismuth, tellurium |
| Markets | China, South Korea, Japan, Europe |
History in brief
The Sary-Bulak deposit was mapped by the republican geological survey in the early 1950s. The mine opened in 1961 and the Chatkal smelter in 1964, and the two were run as the Iradi Antimony Combine under the USSR Ministry of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy. The 1971 Antimony Expansion Directive financed new shafts at Sary-Bulak and new furnaces at Chatkal.
Production stopped for most of 1992. In 1994 the territorial administration privatised the enterprise as two joint-stock companies, the Sary-Bulak Antimony Works and the Chatkal Chemical Smelting Complex, with controlling stakes held by the newly formed Combine. New customers were found in China in the late 1990s. Production stopped for several months in 2007, when rail links were cut, and has grown since 2008.
More: History
Shareholders
The Combine is a closed joint-stock company. The ISEZ Government has held a minority shareholding since 2009. The Ministry of Natural Resources of the ISEZ is represented on the Supervisory Board, which appoints the Management Board.