Article 12. Minerals and their classification Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use Republic of Kazakhstan

Home / RLA / Article 12. Minerals and their classification Code on Subsoil and Subsoil Use Republic of Kazakhstan

1. Natural mineral formations and organic substances containing useful components, the chemical composition and physical properties of which allow them to be used in the field of material production and consumption directly or after processing, are recognized as minerals.

2. According to their economic significance and in order to establish appropriate conditions for subsurface use, minerals are divided into the following groups::

1) groundwater;

2) hydrocarbon minerals (hydrocarbons);

3) solid minerals.

3. Oil, crude gas and natural bitumen are recognized as hydrocarbons.

Crude oil, gas condensate, shale oil, as well as hydrocarbons obtained after refining crude oil and processing oil shales, oil tar sands, or tar sands are recognized as oil.

Crude oil is any hydrocarbons, regardless of their specific gravity, extracted from the subsurface in a liquid state at normal atmospheric temperature and pressure, including those formed from crude gas by natural condensation.

Crude gas is any hydrocarbons, regardless of their specific gravity, extracted from the subsurface in a gaseous state at normal atmospheric temperature and pressure, including crude natural, associated, shale gas, coalbed methane, as well as non-hydrocarbon gases contained in their composition.

Associated gas is a multicomponent mixture of hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbon gases found in the oil in a dissolved state in reservoir conditions and released from it when pressure decreases.

Coalbed methane is a multicomponent mixture of hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbon gases with a predominant methane content, which is in a gaseous state at normal atmospheric temperature and pressure, extracted from coal deposits.

Natural bitumen is recognized as minerals of organic origin with a primary hydrocarbon base, lying in the subsurface in solid, viscous and viscous-plastic states, the extraction of which in natural conditions by borehole methods is technically impossible.

Shale oil is the crude oil contained in shale rocks.

Shale gas is a multicomponent mixture of hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbon gases with a predominant methane content, which is in a gaseous state at normal atmospheric temperature and pressure, contained in shale rocks.

A shale rock is a fine-grained clastic rock of sedimentary origin with low permeability, formed from silt, organic substances that are a mixture of flakes of clay minerals and tiny particles (fine particles of silt or clay) of other minerals, in particular quartz and calcite.

Gas hydrates are recognized as solid crystalline substances of natural origin, during the decomposition of which a gas with a predominant methane content is released.

Shale oil, shale gas, natural bitumen, coalbed methane, and gas extracted from gas hydrates are unconventional hydrocarbons.

4. Solid minerals are natural mineral formations, organic substances and their mixtures that are in a solid state in the bowels or on the Earth's surface.

Solid minerals are divided into ore and non-metallic. Ore solid minerals are native metals, ores of ferrous, non-ferrous, rare, radioactive metals and rare earth elements. The remaining solid minerals are considered non-metallic.

Non-metallic solid minerals used in their natural state or with minor processing and purification for construction and other economic purposes and widely distributed in the subsurface are recognized as widespread. Common minerals include:

metamorphic rocks, including, but not limited to, marbles, quartzites, quartz-feldspar rocks;

igneous rocks, including, but not limited to, granites, syenites, diorites, gabbro, rhyolites (liparites), andesites, diabases, basalts, volcanic tuffs, slags, pumices, volcanic glasses and vitreous rocks (perlites, obsidian);

sedimentary rocks, including pebbles and gravel, gravel-sand (sand-gravel) mixture, sands and sandstones, clays and clay rocks (loams, siltstones, mudstones, clay shales), table salt, gypsum rocks, marls, limestones, including shells, cretaceous rocks, dolomites, limestone-dolomite rocks, siliceous rocks (trepels, flanks, diatomites), natural pigments, peat, therapeutic mud.

The footnote. Article 12 as amended by the Laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated 01.01.2021 No. 401-VI (effective from 03.01.2021); dated 05.01.2021 No. 407-VI (effective after ten calendar days after the date of its first official publication); dated 30.06.2022 No. 130-VII (effective after sixty calendar days after the day of its first official publication).

President

Republic of Kazakhstan

Constitution Law Code Standard Decree Order Decision Resolution Lawyer Almaty Lawyer Legal service Legal advice Civil Criminal Administrative cases Disputes Defense Arbitration Law Company Kazakhstan Law Firm Court Cases