Koktokay (Fuyun)

Koktokay, the main town in Fuyun County, is built around one of China's most remarkable mining sites. The Koktokay Mine — Pit No. 3 — is a vast open-pit excavation that cut deep into a hillside over decades of Soviet and Chinese extraction. The mine produced an extraordinary range of rare minerals: lithium, beryllium, tantalum, cesium, and uranium, along with a host of gemstones. It is now open to visitors as a geological heritage site, and the scale of the pit is genuinely impressive.

The history here is as interesting as the geology. Koktokay was a closed city during the Soviet-era collaboration and the subsequent Chinese mining operations, and the legacy of that period shows in the architecture — rows of Soviet-style workers' housing line the streets, now looking rather weathered against the Central Asian backdrop.

The surrounding Fuyun area is known for gold mining and is one of China's leading gold-producing regions. The drive north from Fuyun through the Ertix River gorge and the Five-Color Beach area (Wucai Tan) is particularly scenic.

things to do sight historic house
A story
During the Cold War, Koktokay's rare mineral deposits made it one of the most strategically important mining sites in the Soviet-Chinese alliance. The mines produced uranium, beryllium, and lithium — materials essential for the nuclear programmes of both nations. When the Sino-Soviet split came in 1960, Soviet engineers left abruptly, taking their blueprints with them, and China had to continue the work alone. Much of this history remained classified until the 1990s.