DUSHANBE, July 31, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik-Chinese joint gold mining venture, The Zeravshan Gold Company (ZGC), plans to produce 1,100 kilograms of gold this year, the ZGC deputy director general Bobokhon Bobokhonov said in an interview the Asia-Plus.
According to him, China’s Zijin Mining Group, which now assumes the 75% ownership interest in the company, plans to invest US$700,000 to US$1 million in drilling deep levels at the Jilau, Khirskhona and Olimiyskiy deposits this year. “The company now works at 50 percent of its capacity,” Bobokhonov said.
We will recall that ZGC has produced 446 kilograms of gold in January-June 2010, which is 103 kilograms more than in the same period of 2009. In all, 740 kilograms of gold have bee produced in Tajikistan over the same-six-month period.
The Zeravshan Gold Company was founded in 1994 a joint venture with Nelson Resources Ltd (44%) and the Tajikistan government (51%) and the IFC (5%). In September, 2002, Avocet Mining plc of the UK signed a heads of agreement to acquire the Tajik gold assets of Toronto-based Nelson Resources Ltd held through Nelson”s subsidiary, Commonwealth and British Minerals Ltd. The assets included a 44% interest in Zeravshan Gold. In June 2007, China’s Zijin Mining acquired a 75 per cent stake in the gold producer. Tajikistan now owns 25 percent of the shares and Zijin Mining assumes the 75% ownership interest in the company.
Tajikistan reportedly has 28 known gold deposits containing an estimated 429.3 tons of gold. The country now produces on average 1,600 kilograms of gold per year, most of which comes from the Jilau deposit operated by ZGC.
The other two gold producers are the gold-mining enterprise, Tilloi Tojik (formerly JV Darvaz), which produces gold from its alluvial operation at the Yakhsou deposit, located in Khatlon province in southern Tajikistan, and Tajik-Canadian gold-mining joint venture, Aprelevka, which is engaged in mining and processing of ores at Aprelevka, Qyzyl-Cheku, Burgunda, Ekiljon and other small deposits in northern Tajikistan (Sughd province).
