KHUJAND, July 9, 2009, Asia-Plus — The Sughd-based open joint-stock company, Leninabad Rare Metals Plant (LRMP), still hopes to receive license for development of the nemaline quartz deposit neat the settlement of Choruk-Darron, the source at the enterprise administration told Asia-Plus today.
“The enterprise lodged all necessary documents for receiving the license to the relevant bodies in February 2007 already and they then were submitted for consideration to the government,” said the source, “LRMP also needs government guarantee of regular power supplies to the enterprise, which requires up to 25 megawatt of electricity per hour in order to ensure regular work.”
According to him, there is an investor in Europe that is ready to invest up to 25 million US dollars in the quartz deposit development project. The development of the Choruk-Darron deposit will create up to 450 new jobs for local residents, the source added.
Some 450 people now work with the Leninabad Rare Metals Plant, which produces ferrosilicon. The enterprise owner is Austria’s Stork Group belonging to Indian national Rathal Gjugendra Singh (phonetically spelled).
Leninabad Rare Metals Plant (LRMP) is located in the settlement of Choruk- Darron, which is 20 kilometers away from Khujand. The plant was established during the year 1942 and was one of the biggest vanadium and molybdenum based master alloys producer during the Soviet period. After the collapse of Soviet Union, it had to undergo certain changes. Currently it is specialized in the production of: Ferrovanadium (FeV), Ferromolybdenum (FeMo), and Ferrotitanium (FeTi). Technical know-how, expertise and production facilities of the plant are intact and can allow producing many special alloys.
Stork Group companies were established at the end of 80’s as trading companies for consumer and industrial products and evolved into minerals, metals and heavy engineering goods trading group. Later on by mid-90’s, it entered into production ventures by acquiring substantial stakes of the following producers: JSC Uralredmet (Russia); JSC Chernyshikhinski Meat Processing Plant (Russia); Volnogorsk Zirconium Refractories Plant (Ukraine); TransInvestService Ltd. (Ukraine); Leninabad Rare Metals Plant (Tajikistan); and Bothli Tradе A. G. (Switzerland).
