In Karaganda, scientists and industry representatives are solving urgent problems of copper production and enrichment. A hackathon - a scientific and technological session is being held on the basis of the A. Saginov Technical University. The main focus is on the prospects for underground and surface copper leaching, commercialization of scientific developments and their introduction into production.
More than 150 scientists, engineers and industry representatives gathered at a hackathon organized by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education with the support of the Kazakhmys Corporation. A new format for the interaction of science and industry will be developed there.
- To continue producing copper in the same volume as today, we need new technologies and methods, and this requires close cooperation between science and industry, - noted Saken Shayakhmetov, Director of Sustainable Development of the Kazakhmys Corporation.
The owners of the hackathon, scientists from Karaganda Technical University, presented an environmentally friendly leaching method.
- We offer a microwave leaching method as an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional methods using sulfuric acid. The microwave reactor allows to reduce the harmful impact on the environment, as well as to increase the economic efficiency of the project, - said the head of the department of chemistry and chemical technology Altynaray Takibaeva.
At the previous hackathon, the technical university was successful with a project on gold extraction from copper ores.
The Satbayev University team presented eight projects on leaching each type of ore, tested both in laboratory conditions and at an existing landfill.
Akim of Karaganda region Yermaganbet Bolekpayev noted that promising projects will be supported by subsidizing interest rates.
The model of financing science in Kazakhstan is changing. Now research is focused on the specific needs of industry, and financing is tied to production tasks.
- Scientists, together with enterprises, identify specific problems of specific production and look for ways to solve them, - noted the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, and also spoke about the opening of branches of leading foreign universities in Karaganda. – Thus, a branch of the leading mining school in the UK will soon be launched on the basis of the technical university. The university operates under the auspices of the University of Exeter. Preliminary negotiations have been held in London. It is also planned to open a branch of the MISIS National Research Technological University (Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys) on the basis of the industrial university. And a branch of the Kazan State Medical University will be opened on the basis of the medical university. This will be a significant contribution to increasing the intellectual, research and academic potential of the region.
According to the results of the hackathon, the best developments will be identified that will receive support for further implementation at leading industrial enterprises of Kazakhstan.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/karaganda/press/news/details/935367