The river passes through urban-type settlement Ak-Tüz and flows to the southwest in a narrow gorge.

It flows parallel to the Chu at a distance of 3 to 4 kilometres (1.9 to 2.5 mi) and crosses the Kyrgyzstan–Kazakhstan border.

In Kazakhstan, it passes near the villages Karasay batyr and Enbek gradually approaching the Chu River, and flowing into it near Chym-Korgon.

In 1964, mudflows damaged tailings pond No.2 in the vicinity of the Kichi-Kemin River, and 1.5 million cubic metres (53,000,000 cu ft) of radioactive tailings contaminated the river and lower part of Kichi-Kemin Valley with thorium, lead, copper, zinc, beryllium and other heavy metals.

[3] The Kyrgyz State Agency on Hydrometeorology runs two water-quality monitoring stations on the Kichi-Kemin River: one of them is 3 kilometres (2 mi) upstream and another is 8 kilometres (5 mi) downstream of Ak-Tuz.