President Emomali Rahmon yesterday morning started a working trip to the northern province of Sughd and Ayni district was the first leg of his working visit to northern Tajikistan. In Ayni district, Rahmon laid a cornerstone for a gold ore processing plant of the Closed Join-Stock Company (CJSC) TALCO Gold, which is expected to produce 1.5 tons of gold and 16 tons of antimony in 2020.
According to the Tajik president’s official website, the enterprise will be built at the Konchoch gold deposit.
The enterprise will be finished in a year and a half and it will produce 1.5 tons of gold and 16 tons of antimony in 2020, the Tajik president’s website said.
Recall, CJSC TALCO Gold is an affiliate of the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) and the Chinese side assumes the 50% ownership interest in TALCO Gold.
During a meeting with Sughd governor in Khjand last month, CJSC TALCO Gold CEO Lee Fen said that the plant that is expected to be introduced into operation in early 2020 will create more than 1,000 new jobs.
TALCO was granted licenses to develop gold deposits Konchoch and Chulboy located in Sughd’s Ayni district.in December 2015. The company has the right to use these deposits for twenty five years.
In parallel, TALCO is seeking partners for joint financing of the Konchoch gold deposit development project.
According to a business-plan developed by TALCO, they will organize a stable functioning of an enterprise that will be established on the basis of explored possible reserves of the Konchoch deposit.
This will allow bringing the enterprise’s annual capacity to up to 900,000 tons of ore with production of a complex concentrate (gold, silver, mercury, antimony, etc) at the dressing works.
The Konchoch group of deposits reportedly has possible gold reserves of more than 55 tons and possible silver reserves of some 44 tons. It also has possible mercury reserves of 184 tons, possible antimony reserves of 268 tons and possible fluorite reserves of 205 tons.
The Konchoch group consists of three deposits: Chulboy (gold and silver; Konchoch (gold, silver, mercury, fluorite); and Shahkon (gold, antimony, fluorite and arsenium)
The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world. It consumes more than 30 percent of the country’s electrical power. TALCO is wholly owned by the Tajik government. Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.
Construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975. THz Tajik aluminum smelter has a rated capacity of 517,000 tons of primary aluminum per year. On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company.
