KHUJAND, September 20, 2011, Asia-Plus — The management of Tajik-Chinese joint gold mining company, Zeravshan Gold Company or ZGC, says wages of the ZGC employees are rising year after year.
“Of a total of 1879 employees 424 people work for ZGC at a monthly wage of 400 to 700 somoni and the remaining 1455 people work for the company at a monthly wage of 750 to 2600 somoni,” said the source, “Underground workers receive 1,200 to 3,000 somoni per month.”
He has denied reports that more than 1,500 workers at ZGC allegedly went on strike last week demanding wage increase as absolutely baseless.
We will recall that one of workers with ZGC, who wanted to remain unnamed, told Asia-Plus on September 12 that the company workers went on strike, demanding wage increase. According to him, they do not want to work hard for 450-500 somoni per month, while Chinese specialists receive 15-20 times more than local workers. “The company administration has promised to resolve the issue,” the source said.
ZGC was launched as a joint venture with Nelson Resources Ltd (44%) and the Tajikistan government (51%) and the IFC (5%) in 1994. In September 2002, Avocet 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 November 2004, Avocet increased its equity interest in ZGC from 49% to 75%. In late July 2007, Avocet sold its equity stake in ZGC to Zijin Mining. ZGC owns gold mining and exploration rights to a 300,000-hectare area near the town of Panjakent in northern Tajikistan.
Over the first eight months of this year, ZGC has reportedly produced 828 kilograms of gold, nearly 160 kilograms of lead and 16.7 tons of copper.
Tajikistan has 28 known gold deposits containing an estimated 429.3 tons of gold. The largest amount of gold was produced in Tajikistan in 1998 – 3,000 kilograms, while the country has produced not more than 1,800 kilograms of gold per year in recent years. Most of gold comes from the Jilau deposit operated by ZGC.
Three large gold mining companies now operate in Tajikistan: ZGC; Tilloi Tojik; and Tajik-Canadian JV Aprelevka. Besides, the private gold mining artel, Odina, operates in Khatlon province.
According to estimates of specialists from the Ministry of Energy and Industries, 2.5 tons of gold will be produced in Tajikistan this year.
