Today, the president Shavkat Mirziyoyev inspected the development of the Yoshlik-1 deposit in Almalyk and the third copper processing plant being built on its base, the presidential press service said.

The Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant is a leader in the production of non-ferrous, rare and precious metals. It accounts for 5% of the country's gross industrial output and 6% of industrial exports. The plant employs about 35 thousand people.

Last year, 148 thousand tons of copper, more than 17 tons of gold, 162 tons of silver were produced. $1.1 billion in investments were mastered, and products worth $662 million were exported.

The area of ​​the Yoshlik-1 deposit is 11 thousand hectares. Its reserves are at 65 million tons of ore per year. This deposit contains 13 types of valuable and rare metals, such as gold, copper, silver, molybdenum, selenium.

To produce products from the deposit's ores, the third copper processing plant of AMMC is being built. The foundation was laid on July 29, 2021.

The project cost is $4.6 billion, including the development of the deposit, the construction of the plant and its infrastructure. The cost of building the plant itself was estimated at $2 billion. Its construction is being carried out by Enter Engineering and the Russian Uralmashzavod.

Currently, 200 million cubic meters of the deposit surface have been uncovered, 41 km of railway tracks have been laid, and a 650 MW substation has been installed. Equipment has been delivered from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Turkey, China, Russia and other European countries.

The president was presented with information about the economic efficiency of the future plant, the technologies used in it, and the conveniences in the process of work.

At the first phase, the plant will be able to process 60 million tons of ore per year. Due to this, 917 thousand tons of copper and 2.5 thousand tons of molybdenum concentrates will be produced annually. 5,600 people will be employed.

At the second phase, the capacity will be brought to 160 million tons, or 3 times the initial figure. These two phases will result in the enterprise having the capacity to produce 400 thousand tons of copper, 50 tons of gold and 270 tons of silver annually by 2028. Thus, the Almalyk plant will become one of the world's largest industrial complexes in the mining and metallurgical industry, the report says.

Reportedly, the project also gave impetus to the development of related industries. For example, six plants for the supply of metal structures for the construction of the factory have been commissioned. There is a demand for new housing and services.

According to estimates, the gross copper reserves in Almalyk are 45 million tons, and gold - more than 5,000 tons. This is one of the largest indicators in the world.

It is expected that in the future the volume of products manufactured by the plant will increase by more than 3 times, its value will reach almost 8 billion dollars, and 11 thousand new high-tech jobs will be created.