The Republic of Kazakhstan has huge reserves of minerals. Over a half of world reserves of chrome have been concentrated in the country;  its subsoil contains lead, zinc, copper, silver, gold etc. Kazakhstan ranks first in the world for the reserves of tungsten, second – for phosphoric ore, third – for manganese, fourth for lead and molybdenum and eighths – for iron ores. Ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgies are among the leading industries. Due to the high quality, Kazakhstan copper, lead, zinc and cadmium are demanded and competitive at the global market. In oil reserves Kazakhstan is ahead of many oil-producing countries.

Mining industry is the sector that attracts great investments in Kazakhstan. In 2012 fixed capital investments amounted to 5,473 billion KZT, which is 4.1% more than in 2011. The priority sectors for investments are education (34.2%), mining industry and quarry development (29.2%), agriculture, forestry and fishery (24.4%) and transport and warehousing (18.9%).

The World bank experts recognized Kazakhstan as the country with the most successful reforms in improvement of business environment. Kazakhstan ranks 47th among the 183 countries in the global rating of countries with the most favorable business climate.