Burqin County is located in the northernmost part of Xinjiang.

Its county seat, which is called Burqin Town (布尔津镇) is situated at the confluence of the Irtysh and its right tributary, the Burqin River.

Most of the county is within the Burqin River basin, which reaches into the Altai Mountains on Xinjiang's border with Mongolia and Russia.

The major mountain massif on Burqin county's border with these two countries is Tavan Bogd.

The construction work started in July 2009, with an expected completion date of June 2013;[4] construction was completed in 2014[5] and the dam started generating power in November 2015.