In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Deputy Finance Minister, Karim Gulmurodzoda, revealed on February 19 that the Ministry of Finance has granted licenses to about 4,000 persons to produce precious stones and metals in artisanal and small-scale ways.
According to him, 21 shops have been set up across the country to purchase precious metals from individual persons producing precious stones and metals in artisanal and small-scale ways. However, only 500 people have concluded contracts with those shops to date.
Gulmurodzoda noted individual prospectors had sold about 7 million somonis worth of precious metals to those shops so far.
Recall, Tajikistan has legalized artisanal and small-scale precious metal and stone mining. For individual production of precious metals and stones, Tajik nationals have to get license from the Ministry of Finance and they should sell the produced precious metals and stones to the state treasury.
The government endorsed the rules of giving licenses to individual persons to produce precious stones and metals in artisanal and small-scale ways on November 27, 2019.
The list of precious metals permitted to be produced in artisanal and small-scale ways includes: gold; silver; platinum; tin (stony tin); tungsten (wolframite, scheelite); titanium (rutile, ilmenite, eucoxene); and rare-earth elements minerals (loparitis, monazite, xenotime, bastnesitis).
The list of precious and semi-precious stones permitted to be produced in artisanal and small-scale ways includes: ruby; sapphire; chrysolite; topaz; beryl; spinel; clinogumite; garnet; nephritis; agate; rhinestone; placers of antimony, fluorite and other minerals in eluvial, deluvial, proluvial and colluvial deposits.
While producing precious metals and stones, prospectors have the right to use hand tools, equipment with an engine power of not more than 50 horsepower and mini-washing devices with a production capacity of not more than 5m³ / hour.
They should sell the produced precious metals and stones to the state treasury or to the points set up by the state treasury.
Physical entities should rehabilitate land plots and other natural objects affected during the extraction works and bring them in a condition suitable for further use.
The alluvial placer gold deposits are located in the north and southeast of the country.
Typical locations for alluvial gold placer deposits are on the inside bends of rivers and creeks, in natural hollows; at the break of slope on a stream; the base of an escarpment, waterfall or other barrier; and within sand dunes, beach profiles or gravel beds.
