Improvement of administrative approaches to subsoil state management in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Mineral resource base of the Republic of Kazakhstan, being as the basis of its economy, plays a special role not only in sustainable development of the country, but also in the formation of successful international relations. The paper substantiates the direction of the mining and metallurgical complex development in the Republic of Kazakhstan towards solving the problem of increasing the country's long-term competitiveness. It was demonstrated that achieving these goals will allow building the potential for consistent and secure participation of the national economy in market interaction with leading global partners on mutually beneficial terms. At the same time, despite forecasted promising geological data, significant excess of the scope of mining work over that of exploration is observed in the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is also shown that the share of investments in geological exploration in the total investments in the mining sector is insignificant. The major part of the funds is invested in mineral extraction activities. In this connection, the paper proposes ways to improve administrative approaches to subsoil management in the Republic of Kazakhstan when granting subsoil use rights, in order to eliminate barriers for investors. The proposed improvements for the state subsoil management can have positive effect: investment growth due to improving the administrative approaches in the Republic’s state subsoil management, ensuring transparency of information, supporting new standards, a simplified procedure for obtaining subsoil use rights (licensing); reducing corruption in the field of geology and subsoil use and reducing labor costs for the implementation of state functions through the creation of a modern geological infrastructure and the use of innovative opportunities in the implementation of supervisory functions by the competent authorities; ensuring fair returns for the government from taxes, as well as obtaining fair returns by investors.