Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

The cost of the mineral resource potential of Uzbekistan is about $ 5.7 trillion, said first deputy chairman of the State Committee for Geology Azam Kadirkhodzhaev, Podrobno.uz reported.

Only more than 1 trillion dollars of them is the value of already explored reserves and prepared deposits, according to the chairman. At the same time, the territory of Uzbekistan is studied only by 20 percent, and accordingly, there is a huge potential to identify new deposits.

“In terms of reserves and resources of the most important types of minerals, such as gold, uranium, copper, potassium salts, phosphorites and kaolin, Uzbekistan is among the world's top ten leaders. On the production of gold and uranium, the republic occupies one of the leading positions. Taking into account the data of considerable wealth of mineral resources, having an appropriate regulatory framework that meets modern business requirements, the number of issued licenses to subsoil users, which by creating their own production make a significant contribution to the development of Uzbekistan, is growing accordingly. As a result, in recent years, the State Committee for Geology has issued more than 1,200 licenses for the right to use subsoil plots,” he said.

Only recently, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, South Korean, Azerbaijani and British companies showed interest in geological exploration in Uzbekistan.

For example, the Turkish side will conduct geological exploration in two regions of Uzbekistan in promising areas of Khurob, Aydim-Dzhetymtau and Sarytau ore field. They will seek gold and rare earth metals.

Earlier, Uzbekistan and the Russian company, RosGeoPerspectiva, concluded an agreement to carry out geological exploration work to find copper and gold in the promising areas of Kazakhtau and Kazakhtau 1 in Navoi region of Uzbekistan. In the first year, the Russians plan to invest at least $ 3 million in the work.

Uzbekistan has large mineral reserves, which include more than 1,800 known mineral deposits. The country’s mineral resources include petroleum, natural gas, gold, silver, uranium, molybdenum, tungsten, coal, copper, zinc and lead. Uranium, copper and gold are the country’s chief minerals. The volume of proven and confirmed gold reserves in Uzbekistan is about 2,100 tons. The total reserves are approximately 3,350 tons.

Currently, according to the decision of the Uzbek government, 29 deposits and 111 promising areas of solid minerals are offered to foreign investors. They include 12 deposits and 31 promising areas for precious metals (gold, silver), 18 non-ferrous metals (copper, lead and zinc), 14 deposits as well as 51 areas for rare and rare-earth metals and uranium.

The lists of the deposits and promising areas offered to foreign investors will be updated every five years taking into account newly obtained geological information.

With regards to the gold, this list includes deposits of mainly gold-quartz and gold-sulfide ores in four regions of the country - Tashkent, Samarkand, Navoi regions, as well as the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan. The total reserves of the proposed deposits (category C2) are more than 14.5 tons of gold.

Attraction of the foreign investors comes from the following factors. Firstly, Uzbekistan has significant resources for increasing capacities of the operating enterprise and creation of new ones. Secondly, the Republic possesses a highly developed efficiency of the mineral industry, a favorable infrastructure and highly skilled manpower. Thirdly, many deposits can be developed by open mining which is the cheapest method. Finally, Uzbekistan has the favorable investment climate provided by «The Subsoil Law» and a support by the governing bodies.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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