Author: Anton Sergienko
Mentor: Ainur Koskina
Altai, a mining town in East Kazakhstan, resembles an anthill. Today, the Maleevsky mine is the town’s center: it provides jobs for thousands of families, funds schools and hospitals, and helps maintain the town’s roads. Trucks loaded with ore and shuttles carrying miners head out in all directions, while support services bustle around the site. But the polymetallic ore deposits are being depleted, and the worked-out shafts are being sealed — like abandoned ant tunnels. Within just a few years, the mine may shut down entirely, leaving many residents without incomes and the town without a significant share of its budget. Altai is one of 15 single-industry towns in Kazakhstan whose existence is so closely tied to mining that the closure of operations could lead to economic collapse. Yet there is a way forward: economic diversification. Developing tourism in the scenic mountains and launching new industries could help save the town. There is still a chance to prevent an economic disaster.
You can read the full article prepared by the project resident by following the link: https://factum.kz/2025/121728/