DUSHANBE, September 16, 2014, Asia-Plus — Over the first eight months of this year, some 409 million somoni have been attracted for enhancement of Tajikistan’s mining sector, Bakhtiyor Sharipov, the head of the Mining and Precious Metals Department at the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoNT), told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, more than 447.2 million U.S. dollars have been invested in modernization of the country’s mining sector since 2007.
“China has invested the most in Tajikistan’s mining sector over the past seven years,” said Sharipov. “Tajikistan is interested in launching joint ventures for exploration and development of mineral deposits and production of building materials.”
“More than 600 mineral deposits have been discovered in Tajikistan and more than 100 of them can be developed,” Tajik official said.
He further added that the mining sector was now an important component of the economy of Tajikistan. “The mining industry’s share in the country’s exports increased from 1.6 percent in 2000 to 11.1 percent in 2013,” Sharipov said.
He noted that Tajikistan intended to increase gold and silver productions.
We will recall that over the first six months of this year, gold producing companies operating in Tajikistan have produced 1,141.1 kilograms of gold, which is 57.6 kilograms more than in the same period last year.
Specialists expect gold producing companies operating in Tajikistan to produce 3,000 tons of gold this year.
Tajik-Chinese joint venture, Zeravshan Gold Company (ZGC), has produced 771 kilograms of gold over the same six-month period, which is 60 percent of the overall volume of gold produced in the country over the report period.
Tajikistan reportedly has 28 known gold deposits containing an estimated 429.3 tons of gold. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the largest amount of gold was produced in Tajikistan in 1998 – 3,000 kilograms.
Three large gold mining companies now operate in Tajikistan: Tilloi Tojik; Tajik-Chinese JV Zeravshan Gold Company; and Tajik-Canadian JV Aprelevka. Most of gold comes from the Jilau deposit operated by Tajik-Chinese joint venture, Zeravshan Gold Company.
Last year, gold producing companies operating in Tajikistan produced 2,674.4 kilograms of gold, which was 273.5 kilograms more than in 2012.
In January-June this year, Tajikistan has produced 943.6 kilograms of silver, which was 43.2 kilograms more than in the same period last year.
