Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant, the only copper producer in Uzbekistan and one of the largest manufacturers of non-ferrous metals in Central Asia, plans to produce 100,000 tons of copper in 2014.

In 2013, the plant increased its production volume of refined copper by around three percent and the figure reached 98,000 tons.

Uzbekistan has significant reserves of metals, in particular gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver, tungsten, uranium and molybdenum.

Currently, there are 900 discovered ore occurrences and deposits of copper in Uzbekistan. However, only three of them, concentrated in the Almalyk area, are being used.

As the second largest mining company in the Central Asian region, the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant accounts for nearly 90 percent of silver production and 20 percent of gold production in the country. The plant is composed of two mining companies, two processing plants and two metallurgical plants.

The plant has the rights to develop copper-molybdenum and lead-zinc ores in the area of Almalyk in Tashkent region. The Almalyk Plant's resources include copper-porphyry ores at the Kalmakyr and Sary Cheku fields in Tashkent region, the lead-zinc-barite ore deposit Uch-Kulach in Dzizak and the lead-zinc ore deposit Khandyza in Kashkadarya region. The share of the Almalyk plant in Uzbekistan in the production of silver and gold is 90 percent and 20 percent of the total volume respectively.

The total production of the plant is estimated at more than $300 million annually.

Almalyk plant plans to conduct some geological exploration works on the Kuldara area of copper-zinc mineralization in Kashkadarya region to expand resource of mining and processing complex until mid-2016.

The plant also plans to start developing a new copper mine Dalnee in the Tashkent region by the end of the year which is considered as a reserve to replace commissioned capacities of Kalmakyr and Sarah-Ceku mines.