Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan has reported a significant increase in the production of precious metals in the country since the beginning of 2019.

According to the source, the gold production in January-May this year increased by 60.8 percent compared to the same period of 2018. At the same time, silver production increased by 37.6 percent.

However, the ministry and other relevant agencies of Tajikistan do not provide data on the production of precious metals, saying that such information is secret.

Meanwhile, exports of precious, non-precious stones and metals in January-May amounted to over $43.2 million, which is 53.9 times more than in 2018. In January-May 2018, this figure was only $802,000.

Tajikistan's gold assets contain 137 deposits of industrial gold and 127 deposits of non-industrial gold. Tajikistan had a new record in gold production in 2017 as the country extracted 5.5 tons.

The main gold-bearing deposits are located in the central part of the country. The Central Asian nation has 10 gold producers, the biggest ones being Zarafshon (70 percent of all gold extracted in the country), Aprelevka, Tilloi Tochik, Odina Group and Pakrut.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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