29.04.2024

On April 29, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting to discuss tasks in the field of geology and the mining and metallurgical industry.

The domestic geological sector is allocated one trillion Uzbek sums annually, and as a result of the implementation of targeted programs, the production volume in the mining industry reached almost US$11 billion last year.

However, the bulk of this volume is accounted for by precious and non-ferrous metals, although there is enormous untapped potential for minerals of critical importance to the industry. In particular, our country has identified 32 types of such valuable minerals.

In this regard, the Head of State gave instructions at the presentation on January 15 to exploit the opportunities in this area. The measures, plans and proposals were discussed at today’s meeting.

The world is witnessing dynamic technological progress. There is a growing demand for rare earth metals in the electric vehicle, green energy and electrical engineering industries. As s result, the prices for molybdenum, tellurium, selenium and graphite on the global market have risen significantly in recent years.

The President highlighted the emerging great prospects. Emphasis was placed on the need to expand the development of existing deposits and explore new ones for vital raw materials.

At present, our country mines six types of such raw materials. However, there are also opportunities to produce high-value-added products from platinum group metals, indium, vanadium and minerals containing tungsten, molybdenum, rhenium, zinc, and manganese. For example, it is possible to establish production in parea that did not reviously exist in our country, such as powder metallurgy, with an annual output of US$300 million, and in the equipment and components sector, with an annual output of US$100 million.

Recently, an agreement on critical raw materials was reached with the European Union, opening up broad access to this important market.

In this context, the relevant officials have been tasked with developing a programme of promising projects totaling US$500 million for rare earths, with the participation of foreign experts and investors. The need to develop this area with a scientific approach has been emphasized, with plans to establish a project office for this purpose and involve leading institutes and research centers.

The issues related to increasing the precious metals production at the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine were also discussed at the meeting.

Responsible officials reported on plans to further increase both reserves and gold production.

The President instructed to reduce the production costs at the combine by 10-15% and to expand industrial cooperation and localization. The task was set to establish a Scientific Center for Advanced Technologies in Precious Metals.