Proposal to return the Jeruy deposit to state ownership at the IV People's Kurultai
During the IV People's Kurultai held in Bishkek, one of the delegates from the capital proposed to return the Jeruy gold deposit to state ownership, similar to what was done with Kumtor.
President Sadyr Japarov, commenting on this proposal, noted that this is impossible and explained the reasons for his opinion.
“As for Kumtor, the company Centerra Gold received the deposit and allocated $475 million against the collateral of the mine. Of this amount, $275 million was directed to the construction of a plant, while the remaining $200 million ended up in their pockets. Later, by processing gold, they repaid the loan. Since they used such schemes without investing their own funds, we returned this deposit to the state,” Japarov shared.
The Jeruy deposit has changed owners several times during its existence.
“The state sold and then returned this deposit, incurring losses of about $500 million. In 2014-2015, it was sold again, with the state receiving $100 million, which disappeared without a trace. This happened due to insufficient control by the authorities,” he noted.
Furthermore, investors, in addition to these $100 million, invested another $350-400 million in the project, building a factory. In total, they invested about $1 billion. Currently, the enterprise is functioning, and taking it away from the current owners would be wrong.
Some claim that the state owns less than 1% of Jeruy. Nevertheless, we receive income in other ways. Every year, about 5 billion soms in taxes and other fees flow into the budget. In the Talas region, a development fund has been created, with funds directed to the ayil okmotu where the deposit is located.
In 2022-2023, 1.5 billion soms accumulated in this ayil okmotu. Local deputies and the akim could not reach an agreement on their use. We changed the leadership of the ayil okmotu and began construction of social facilities, which benefits the country,” the president summarized.
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