The Uzbek Technological Metals Plant (UzTMP), a division of the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Plant, is implementing 34 projects for the exploration, production and processing of rare metals in Uzbekistan, said Deputy Head of the company Ulugbek Ruziev at the international congress "Mining Industry of Uzbekistan and Central Asia" that kicked off on Tuesday.
According to the plant, the enterprise is implementing 17 projects aimed at identifying and assessing new deposits of lithium, tungsten, tantalum, niobium, graphite and other rare earth metals.
Eight projects are aimed at developing special technologies for processing rare metals, six are aimed at generalizing geological mapping, biochemical and geophysical data, and three more are aimed at using additional metals and rare elements.
Ulugbek Ruziev added that before 2031 the plant eye to increase production, in particular, of molybdenum products by 3.4 times, and tungsten products by 50 times in value terms.
In April, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev instructed relevant departments, together with foreign partners, to develop projects for the production and processing of rare earth metals worth $500 million, taking into account the demand for them on the world market.
At the same time, Uzbekistan and the European Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of critical raw materials. The MoU provides for a partnership between the parties in the development, financing and creation of infrastructure for the supply of critical raw materials. In September, a similar memorandum was signed with the United States.