ABSTRACT
In addition to oil, three other mineral fuels were found in significant amounts in Kazakhstan – coal, natural gas, and uranium. Coal from Ekibastuz was used primarily for domestic power and heat generation, and nearly 80 percent of the power stations in Kazakhstan were fired by coal. Coking coal was mined in Karaganda and used mostly in the iron and steel industry. Kazakhstan also exported significant amounts of coal to Russia where a number of power plants had come to depend on Ekibastuz coal as their primary fuel source. Coking coal from Karaganda was also sent to the Magnitogorsk iron and steel works. By contrast, Kazakhstan was a net importer of natural gas throughout the 1990s despite having very significant reserves of natural gas. Like oil, almost all the natural gas was produced in the country’s western regions and exported for processing and use to Russia. Supplies for use in Kazakhstan’s cities were imported from Uzbekistan (for cities in the southern parts of the country) and from Russia (for the north). Kazakhstan also had significant reserves of uranium, estimated to comprise as much as one-quarter of all those in the world, and the mining, milling, and processing industry was an important link in Soviet nuclear programs.
