On the evening of Saturday October 28^th, a fire broke out in the Kostenko mine at a depth of 700 metres, followed by an explosion of a methane-air mixture. 201 of 252 miners on shift were able to exit on their own, 24 of whom had injuries and needed medical help. The rescue operation continued till Tuesday, October 31^st, when the last body was discovered. All 46 of the missing miners have been found dead.

Notorious employer

Kostenko mine, along with 7 other coal mines in Kazakhstan, belongs to ArcelorMittal Temirtau, a company notorious for its security negligence. Apart from mines it also has Central Asia’s largest metallurgical plant, a mining and processing plant, four iron ore enterprises, two heat and power plants, a pipe plant and several auxiliary enterprises in its portfolio, that were obtained with huge preferences during the privatisation campaign of the mid-1990s. Many of them had issues with safety and fatal accidents in the past.

The current mine explosion is the deadliest in recent history for Kazakhstan, but it is not the first. Since 2006, more than 150 people have lost their lives working for companies belonging to AMT JSC. In 2022 alone there have been six deadly occurrences in various companies and mines belonging to ArcelorMittal Temirtau – which resulted in 13 deaths. The most recent tragedy occurred in August 2023, when 5 workers died at the Kazakhstanskaya mine when conveyor belt caught fire. The governmental commission determined a “100% fault of the employer.”

In the company’s latest statement from October 29, 2023, following the last explosion in the Kostenko mine, ArcelorMittal Temirtau mentions that “the company has made significant efforts, which have been further strengthened since 2020, to improve safety performance at ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s operations.” But this seems a rather bleak attempt to restore the company image by blaming the “complex geology” of the mines that complicates their operation while the voices have been raised repeatedly about the emergency conditions over the last few years. Workers in the Karaganda region, where the mines are located, continuously tried to improve labour conditions and mentioned the company’s focus on profit with disregard to the miners safety in their appeals.

But mines are not the only dangerous enterprise. Emergency conditions at the factories are widely known, though the company itself never issued any statements mentioning it. In 2018, there were three cases of collapse of roofs and floor slabs at factories, a collapse of the walls of a closed coal storage facility, and a massive explosion at the gas pipeline – all owned by the ArcelorMittal Temirtau and its subsidiaries. In 2019 there was another accident with a deformation and collapsed roof at the metallurgic plant. In 2021, two floor slabs with a total area of 72 square metres collapsed in the forge and press shop of Kurylysmet LLP, a subsidiary of AMT. There were no casualties or injuries, but the conditions and company’s attitude towards workers’ safety have not improved.

ArcelorMittal was continuously fined and disciplined for negligence, failure to comply with safety regulations, failure to submit the mandatory tax declaration, and polluting the environment. In November 2022, after another catastrophe that took lives of 5 workers, the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, mentioned that the company has systemic problems, and “despite repeated warnings and instructions from state authorities, the situation is not getting better.”

A search for an inland investor

At the meeting with family members of the miners on October 28 the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said that the government will withdraw from co-operation with ArcelorMittal Temirtau: “I have instructed to stop the investment co-operation with ArcelorMittal Temirtau. This company has turned out to be the worst in our history in terms of cooperation with the government and enterprise.” ArcelorMittal Temirtau issued a statement on October 28 to confirm that the company “recently signed a preliminary agreement for a transaction that will transfer ownership to the Republic of Kazakhstan.”

The government also stated that “subsequent transfer of AMT JSC to other foreign investors is not considered.” However, in a long-term, the state is not planning to invest into the development of the company. “We have no plans for the state to be the owner and invest budget money. We […] must attract a private investor, and they must invest at least 3 billion dollars in the next three years. Without such investments, the enterprise will not be able to develop normally,” prime minister Alikhan Smailov said at the briefing in Majilis. 1.3 billion dollars will have to be invested immediately to ensure “resolvement of industrial and labour safety issues, modernisation of all equipment and expansion of production.”

For now, the company will stay a state property. The president appointed Vadim Basin, Deputy head of Karaganda Region, as head the coal department of ArcelorMittal Temirtau.

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