Over the first six months of this year, Tajikistan’s mining sector has produced a total of 3.053 billion somoni (equivalent to some 325 million U.S. dollars) worth of output, which was 212 million somoni more than in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT).
An official source at a MoINT says the mining sector has accounted for 25.6 percent of the overall volume of industrial goods produced in the country over the report period.
“Compared to the first half-year of 2018, production of gold has increased by 51.4 percent, production of silver has increased by 32.5 percent, production of zinc powder has increased by 7.9 percent, and production of antimony powder has increased by 30.5 percent,” the source said.
According to him, the gold produced in the country over the report period has been bought by the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF),
Over the same six-month period, foreign investments totaling 28.2 million U.S. dollars have been attracted for development of the mining sector, the source added.
Tajikistan has 137 deposits with estimated reserves of industrial gold and 127 deposits of non-industrial gold. Tajikistan plans to increase annual production of gold to 17 tons beginning on 2022.
Four large gold mining companies now operate in Tajikistan: Tilloi Tojik; Tajik-Chinese JV Zarafshon; Tajik-Canadian JV Aprelevka; and China Nonferrous Gold Limited, which is the first foreign company to obtain 100% ownership of a mining and exploration project in Tajikistan. Besides, enterprises such as Odina, Nazira, Ganj, Barakat and Istiqlol are engaged in gold production in the country.
Most of gold comes from the Jilau deposit operated by Tajik-Chinese joint venture, Zarafshon, which reportedly accounts for more than 70 percent of the total amount of gold produced in Tajikistan.
