Karatau Phosphorite Quarries

The Karatau Phosphorite Quarries (Iradi: Karatau fosforit karyerleri) are disused Soviet open pits in the Karatau, about 8 kilometers west of the village of Kök-Say, in the Karatau planning zone of the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR), at about 43°33′N 69°37′E. They supplied phosphorite to the superphosphate works at Aulie-Ata.^[1] Work stopped in the 1990s, when the works closed, and in 2007 the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line left the quarries on the tribal side. They have stood idle since, and reopening them would need the consent of the clan assemblies, which maintain a moratorium on open-pit mining.^[1]

References

1. ^ Iradi National Chamber of Mining and Metallurgy (2021). Mineral Prospects of Irad. Talas.