/IRBIS, March 23, 00/ - REUTERS informs, with the reference to the Statistics agency of Kazakhstan, that in Kazakhstan copper production rose 21.7% in January-February 2000 compared to similar period of last year and equaled 65.709 tons.

The agency also gave the data on other types of metallurgical products in its monthly report.

Non-ferrous metal production February January January-February 2000

----------------------------   ---------  --------  ---------------------
Refined copper (tons)             31,830    33,879         65,709
to previous month, %                -6.0      +3.6              -
to previous year, %                +17.3     +17.3          +21.7

Zinc (tons) 20,172 21,476 41,648 to previous month, % -6.1 +0.2 - to previous year, % +5.8 +1.3 +3.5

Lead (tons) 16,415 16,463 32,878 to previous month, % -0.3 +7.1 - to previous year, % +60.3 +50.1 +55.0

Bauxite (th. tons) 259.1 268.0 527.1 to previous month, % -3.3 -4.2 - to previous year, % +6.5 +8.1 +7.3

Limestone (tons) 95,660 102,684 198,344 to previous month, % -6.8 +1.7 - to previous year, % +8.5 +5.0 +6.6

Affinated gold (kg) 806.0 839.0 1645.0 to previous month, % -3.9 -26.9 - to previous year, % +43.2 +22.5 +31.8

Affinated silver (tons) 75,095 65,492 140,587 to previous month, % +14.7 +7.6 - to previous year, % +44.5 +27.9 +36.3

----------------------------   ---------  --------  ---------------------