Plans in the field of geology and mining industry are considered

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

One trillion soums are allocated annually to the domestic geological industry and as a result of the implementation of targeted programs last year, the volume of production in the mining industry reached almost US$11 billion.

However, the bulk of this volume falls on the precious and non-ferrous metals sector, although there is a huge untapped potential for minerals that are critically important for the industry. In particular, 32 types of such minerals have been discovered in our country.

In this regard, at the presentation held on 15 January, the head of state gave instructions on using opportunities in this area. Today’s meeting reviewed the measures, plans and proposals being taken.

There is a dynamic development of technology in the world today. The demand for rare earth metals in the electric vehicle industry, green energy and the electrical industry is increasing. Therefore, in recent years, prices for molybdenum, tellurium, selenium and graphite have increased significantly on the world market.

The President pointed to the great prospects opening up. The need to expand the development of existing and exploration of new deposits of critically important raw materials was emphasized.

Currently, six types of such raw materials are mined in our country. At the same time, it is possible to obtain products with high added value from platinum, indium, vanadium metals, as well as minerals containing tungsten, molybdenum, rhenium, zinc and manganese. For example, it is possible to organize the production of products in the powder metallurgy that did not exist in our country before for US$300 million and in the field of equipment and components for US$100 million per year.

Recently, an agreement on critical raw materials was reached with the European Union, which opens up wide access to this large market.

With this in mind, the responsible persons were instructed to form, with the participation of foreign experts and investors, a program of promising projects worth US$500 million in rare earth metals. The need to develop this area with a scientific approach was emphasized, to organize a project office for this purpose and to involve leading institutes and research centers.

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

The responsible persons reported on the possibilities for further increasing both reserves and gold production volumes.

The President gave instructions to reduce the cost of production at the plant by 10-15 percent, expand industrial cooperation and localization.

The task has been set to organize a Scientific center for advanced technologies in precious metals.

Source of information: UzDaily.uz