Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has approved the plan of measures in connection with the construction of a mining and metallurgical complex based on the Tebinbulak deposit.
The new complex will be built by 2024. Its capacity will be up to 1 million tons of steel products per year.
The country’s government approved a preliminary feasibility study of the Tebinbulak development project in March 2017. It envisages the use of non-domain technology for the production of cast iron and steel.
The president instructed the Uzbekistan Railways company to create a directorate for the construction of the complex until mid-February and make proposals on specific sources of funding till April 1.
Moreover, the company must submit a final feasibility study for the approval of the government until December 30.
A special working commission, which will resolve the construction issues, has been also created upon the president’s decree.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.5 billion, a part of which can be taken in the form of loans in Chinese banks.
The Tebinbulak field is located in the Karauzak district of Karakalpakstan autonomous republic within Uzbekistan. The proved reserves of the deposit are 450 million tons of ore and total reserves are estimated at more than 3 billion tons.
A quarry with an annual ore output of 22 million tons is planned to be developed. A mining and processing plant for the production of iron ore concentrate with an average iron content of 65% is planned to be constructed. A metallurgical complex is also planned to be constructed to produce cast iron with an annual volume of 1.5 million tons within the project.
According to the country’s State Balance of Mineral Reserves, 1,931 deposits were discovered in Uzbekistan as of January 1, 2017, 1,043 of those deposits were discovered during the years of independence.
The country’s State Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources provided subsoil users with 1,014 licenses to use subsoil plots in accordance with the established procedure. (Trend/Ukrainian metal)
