MEMORANDUM

MINEX CENTRAL ASIA 2013

The 4^th Mining and Exploration Forum

18/04/2013, Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan

MINEX CENTRAL ASIA Forum is a platform for investors, industry and governments to frankly express views and opinions on the current state and future opportunities for the Mining sector in Central Asia.

In the spirit of President Nazarbayev’s opening address there have been presentations and constructive discussions on a number of issues, which the industry is facing today.

In summary of these discussions, the Forum acknowledges that:

the government of Kazakhstan has set out its intention to make changes to legislation to encourage investment and development of the Kazakhstan’s mining industry;
the government’s perception of the pace of changes is at odds with those of the mining companies and the investment community, who urgently need to see a faster change. The situation is further worsened by the reduced availability of investment due to the weakening of the global economy;
shortage of human capital remains a high risk for the future of the mining sector, however bold initiatives such as the creation of the School of Mines at the Nazarbayev University and the Geological Centre in Astana are encouraging to see;
while the government has an intention to lift the Moratorium on the exploration licenses, the legislation still hasn’t been enacted;
lack of access to existing quality geological data is still the main barrier to exploration investment.

Furthermore, the Forum recommends that:

participants of the Forum are encouraged to share their ideas on positive changes in the mining legislation with the MINEX Forum organising committee which will be submit them to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies and to the Mining Associations;
better elaboration of ways to access historical and modern geological information is needed once the Licensing Moratorium is lifted, the licensing process should be streamlined, simplified and organised in accordance with the best international standards;
greater openness and better access to existing quality geological data needs to be created. This is an essential step to attracting investment;
to accelerate training and re-training of personnel for mining companies and to fund specific training programs in accordance with the industry requirements, MINEX Forum is inviting mining and metals companies to set up a voluntary public educational foundation. The foundation will be governed by the member companies and will be funding its activities by claiming from the Government a percentage of the “Educational Tax” presently levied from companies. Companies interested in this proposal are kindly invited to contact MINEX Forum organising committee to discuss it further;
the organising Committee of the MINEX Forum will be delighted to assist the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies with the promotion and organisation of the public auction and with the facilitation of the investor meetings;
participants of the Forum are grateful to the government of Kazakhstan for its continuous support of this event and look forward to see more progress in the development of mining in Central Asia at next year’s MINEX Central Asia Forum.

For more information about the Forum please visit our website: http://www.minexasia.com/2013

Or contact organising committee offices in London, Almaty or Moscow.

The Organising Committee of «MINEX Central Asia 2013» Mining and Exploration Forum