 The city lies approximately 500 km west of the Chinese border on the north side of the lake at an altitude of 440 m.

The history of the city is closely connected with mining of deposits of copper and development of a smelting plant.On 11 April 1937, a small worker's settlement "Pribalhashstroy", designed in connection with the construction of a copper factory - BGMC, was transformed into the city of Balkhash by decision of the Central Executive Committee of the Kazakh SSR.In this way, the copper factory effected the city's appearance.