Natural Resources >> CEO Interviews >> November 29, 1999
BERT KENNEDY is President, CEO, and one of the founding directors of
Kazakhstan Minerals Corporation (KazMinCo). A professional geologist,
he obtained a BSc (Geology) from London University and an MSc
(Geochemistry) from Oxford University. Mr Kennedy is also a Fellow of
the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and a Chartered Engineer. He
has 27 years experience on a wide range of copper and gold projects in
Africa, Europe, Asia and South America, principally for major mining
houses and consulting groups. Since 1994 KazMinCo has operated in the
embryonic free market of the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan, which
achieved political independence in 1991. The company has successfully
negotiated the transition period from a control to a free market
economy, and in the same period it obtained a listing on the Toronto
Stock Exchange. This required singular patience and attention to detail
to ensure that KazMinCo obtained secure title to its Kazakh assets and
worked to the highest professional standards to show the technical
aspects of the company's gold and copper projects withstood rigorous
scrutiny by independent western experts. Having established the
management team to accomplish this task, by 1998 KazMinCo had completed
a Final Feasibility Study on its 2 million ounce gold equivalent
Varvarinskoye project and two further prefeasibility studies on less
advanced copper projects. Currently KazMinCo has 7 joint-ventures (up
to 88% to the Company) in Kazakhstan, focusing on gold and copper,
having recently sold its oil and gas interests (acquired in 1998) for
cash and a 1% gross over-riding royalty, to the Romanian National Oil
Company. KazMinCo is firmly established as the leading junior
exploration company in Kazakhstan and well placed to respond to a
recovery in the commodity price cycle and a recognition of the potential
of emerging markets such as Kazakhstan. Profile
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