From Military to Mining: Alex Walker's Journey and East Star Resources' Growth in Kazakhstan

In this episode, we have a returning guest who appeared back in Episodes 298 and 451, Alex Walker, CEO of East Star Resources, are focused on the discovery and development of VMS, porphyry and sediment hosted copper deposits in Kazakhstan.A former captain in the Australian Army Reserves, Alex has more than 15 years of investment banking, mining finance, and management experience before joining East Star in 2021. He gives us an update since we last spoke in July 2024, updates on their drilling campaigns, ESG, and how Kazakhstan is developing as a mining jurisdiction. KEY TAKEAWAYS Kazakhstan is emerging as a favourable mining jurisdiction, attracting significant investment from major companies like Fortescue, Barrick, and Ivanhoe. The country has made strides in improving its regulatory framework, including digitising applications and maintaining a stable royalty rate. The company is utilising modern exploration techniques, including AI data processing and advanced geochemical sampling, to enhance target identification and reduce fieldwork time. These technologies are helping to refine their understanding of potential deposits. East Star is committed to integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles into its operations. The company emphasises community engagement, social responsibility, and minimizing environmental impact, particularly by leveraging existing infrastructure in the region. In the short to medium term, East Star Resources plans to initiate drilling at multiple targets, including Rulikha and Talovskoye, while continuing to refine its resource model for Verkhuba. The company aims to grow its resource base and advance towards feasibility studies within the year. BEST MOMENTS "Kazakhstan is a fantastic place. The people are very welcoming, very friendly. It's quite a melting pot... and certainly our friendship group here is quite diverse as well." "We think that Kazakhstan ticks that box massively... It's probably one of the few jurisdictions globally that you could say is moving in the right direction." "Copper is entering a multi-generational bull market... The new oil is copper because we need that to decentralise the grids." "We would like to start pushing that through scoping studies and into feasibility work. So I hope that we can do all of that this year." VALUABLE RESOURCES Mail:        [e-mail] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ X:              https://twitter.com/MiningRobTyson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DigDeepTheMiningPodcast  Web:        http://www.mining-international.org This episode is sponsored by Hawcroft, leaders in property risk management since 1992. They offer: Insurance risk surveys recognised as an industry standard Construction risk reviews Asset criticality assessments and more Working across over 600 sites globally, Hawcroft supports mining, processing, smelting, power, refining, ports, and rail operations. For bespoke property risk management services, visit www.hawcroft.com GUEST SOCIALS  https://www.eaststarplc.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/east-star-resources/ https://x.com/EastStar_PLC ABOUT THE HOST Rob Tyson is the Founder and Director of Mining International Ltd, a leading global recruitment and headhunting consultancy based in the UK specialising in all areas of mining across the globe from first-world to third-world countries from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia. We source, headhunt, and discover new and top talent through a targeted approach and search methodology and have a proven track record in sourcing and positioning exceptional candidates into our clients' organisations in any mining discipline or level. Mining International provides a transparent, informative, and trusted consultancy service to our candidates and clients to help them develop their careers and business goals and objectives in this ever-changing marketplace. CONTACT METHOD [e-mail] https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-tyson-3a26a68/ Podcast Description Rob Tyson is an established recruiter in the mining and quarrying sector and decided to produce the “Dig Deep” The Mining Podcast to provide valuable and informative content around the mining industry. He has a passion and desire to promote the industry and the podcast aims to offer the mining community an insight into people’s experiences and careers covering any mining discipline, giving the listeners helpful advice and guidance on industry topics.  This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/