Kazakh gold miner Solidcore plans inventory sell-down in first half
By Anastasia Lyrchikova
MOSCOW, 19 March (Reuters) - Kazakh gold miner Solidcore Resources COREK.AIXN plans to sell down inventories built up due to sanctions-related delays last year in the first and second quarters of 2026, the company’s chief executive said on Thursday.
“We have a high degree of confidence that we will sell down this excess inventory — if not in this quarter, then in the next one,” Vitaly Nesis told Reuters.
Solidcore, formerly Polymetal International, sold its Russian assets in 2024 after its business there came under U.S. sanctions, but continues to send gold concentrate to Russia for processing with U.S. permission.
Sanctions-related delays in toll processing of concentrate from the Kyzyl deposit at the Amursk pressure-oxidation (POX) plant in Russia in the first half of last year made for accumulated inventories of 200,000 ounces at Kazakhstan’s second-largest gold miner, part of which it sold in the second half of 2025.
Solidcore’s 2025 gold-equivalent production fell 19% year-on-year to 395,000 ounces, below its guidance, while gold-equivalent sales slid 23% to 412,000 ounces, following the delays, but now it expects output to rise 37% to 540,000 ounces in 2026.
The company reported earlier on Thursday that its 2025 net profit rose 24% to $662 million on the back of high gold prices.
Nesis said investments over the next three years are expected to amount to about $400 million to $500 million per year, following $510 million in 2026, subject to board approval of the Syrymbet tin project. That takes into account the start of the active phase of the underground mine at Kyzyl and a potential new green energy projects.
The tolling arrangement will remain in place until the launch of Solidcore’s own Ertis POX plant, scheduled for 2028.
Nesis added that gold price is unlikely to reach $5,000 an ounce again over the next three years while copper prices could return to $13,000 per metric ton this year.
“We assume $4,000 per ounce in our budget ... the speculative peak is behind us and prices are likely to drift toward $4,000,” Nesis said.
Spot gold XAU= on Thursday fell 3.9% to $4,629.29 per ounce.
Nesis said the company continues to consider acquiring assets in Oman, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries, with a primary interest in copper projects.
