Global demand for phosphorus is escalating in tandem with the need to secure food, energy, and critical materials for a growing population. More than 90% of the element is consumed as phosphate fertilizers, and it is now widely acknowledged that sustainable access to P-bearing ores is as strategically important as access to oil or rare earths. Kazakhstan’s Karatau Phosphorite Basin ranks among the world’s largest deposits, yet only a fraction of its geological endowment can be fed directly to wet-process phosphoric-acid plants or electrothermic furnaces. Open-pit operations leave behind tens of millions of tons of low-grade waste rock (≈11 to 13 wt% P2O5) whose carbonate-rich, silica-cemented texture frustrates conventional flotation or thermal decarbonization. Stockpiles continue to rise, occupying vast areas of arid steppe and immobilizing a potentially valuable national resource.