Canadian mining company Silvercrown Metals will develop two of the largest undeveloped gold deposits in the western Tian Shan gold belt of Kyrgyzstan. The company has signed a share purchase agreement with Chaarat Gold Holding Ltd. and a cooperation agreement with the National Investment Agency under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Under the agreement, Silvercrown Metals will acquire a 70% stake in Chaarat ZAAV CJSC for US$162 million. The latter holds mining rights to the Tulkubash and Kyzyltash gold mines, covering approximately 7 square kilometers, and also holds exploration licenses for an additional 27.42 square kilometers, including the Karator and Ishakuld mines.
Silvercrown Metals has also signed a share purchase and shareholder agreement with Kyrgyzaltyn, the Kyrgyz state-owned gold company. Upon completion of the transaction, ZAAV will become a joint venture, with Silvercrown Metals holding a 70% stake and responsible for operations.
As a condition of the transaction, the Kyrgyz government will waive its preemptive right and extend the mining license until June 25, 2062, to ensure long-term investment stability.
The Tulkubash and Kyzyltash projects are located approximately 490 kilometers southwest of Bishkek and will be developed in two phases.
Phase 1 (2026-2028) will primarily develop the Tulkubash deposit. Silvercrown Metals plans to invest approximately US$150 million in an open-pit mine with an annual ore processing capacity of 4 million tons. Commercial production is expected between 2027 and 2028, with an estimated annual gold production of 110,000 ounces over the mine's first three to four years of lifespan. This phase could be extended by at least two years if the Karator exploration license is converted to a mining license in 2026.
Phase 2 (2028-2031) will develop the Kyzyltash sulfide deposit. This phase is expected to involve an investment of US$400 million, employing a combination of open-pit and underground mining methods, with an annual production capacity of 3 to 4 million tons. Once fully operational in 2031, it is projected to produce 190,000 to 230,000 ounces of gold annually, with continuous mining operations lasting over 18 years.
The antimony-gold mineralization zone in this mining area was first discovered by Soviet geologists in the 1970s. Since 2002, Chalat Gold has invested approximately US$174 million in exploration, technological research, and infrastructure construction such as roads and camps.
Silvercrown Metals is the second Canadian mining company to operate in Kyrgyzstan. Previously, Centra Gold developed the Kumtor gold mine in the Issyk-Kul region, which was nationalized in 2021 and became a wholly state-owned enterprise in August 2022.
In August 2025, at the launch ceremony of underground mining at the Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov pointed out that during the 28 years of foreign management, the state received only US$100 million in dividends, while in the three years after nationalization, the state's revenue had reached US$441 million.
Silvercrown Metals' investment is one of the largest foreign mining projects attracted to Kyrgyzstan since the nationalization of the Kumtor gold mine, and is also seen as a significant test of the country's ability to attract long-term capital under the newly revised public-private partnership framework.
Reprinted from Central Asia Map