Karaganda Region
Gulag labor built Soviet Union's third-largest coal basin from 1833 discovery. 2023 mine disaster (46 deaths) triggered ArcelorMittal nationalization, now Qarmet. Metallurgy is 62.7% of output. By 2026, 1.6T tenge modernization tests whether coal-steel can decarbonize before becoming stranded assets.
Karaganda emerged from coal seams discovered in 1833 in Kazakhstan's central steppe, but its true formation came through Gulag labor. Stalin's prison camps built the mines and smelters that made Karaganda the Soviet Union's third-largest coal basin, producing fuel for steel mills across the empire. The region's industrial DNA was forged in forced labor, its underground coal among the world's most dangerous—gassy, deep, and prone to explosions.
Post-Soviet privatization brought ArcelorMittal, which operated the integrated coal-steel complex until disaster struck. An October 2023 mine explosion killed 46 workers—Kazakhstan's deadliest post-independence industrial accident—triggering nationalization and transfer to Kazakh ownership as Qarmet. The tragedy exposed decades of underinvestment and the region's dependence on an industry facing both safety and climate pressures.
By 2024, Karaganda Region remains Kazakhstan's industrial heartland, with metallurgy comprising 62.7% of regional output. Qarmet's "5-9-5" modernization program targets 5 million tonnes of steel, 9 million tonnes of coal, and 5 million tonnes of iron ore concentrate by 2028, with 1.6 trillion tenge in planned investment. But Karaganda also ranks among the world's most polluted cities, coal generates 70% of Kazakhstan's electricity, and the deep mines remain lethal.
Through 2026, Karaganda faces an existential question: whether its coal-steel complex can modernize and decarbonize or become a stranded asset as the energy transition accelerates. The region that built Soviet industrial might must now find a path between economic necessity and environmental reality.