Tashkent, Uzbekistan, March 17
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The Uzbek Uzkimesanoat (Uzhimprom) State Joint Stock Company has completed the construction of the second stage of the Dehkanabad potash fertiliser plant in the Kashkadarya region, south of Uzbekistan, a company representative told Trend.
Construction of processing complex is finished and debugging of technical lines has been conducted, according to the company representative. The plant will start production on new facilities before the end of March.
As was previously reported, the second stage of Dehkanabad plant which cost $254.5 million would increase the capacity of the plant threefold up to 600,000 tons of potash per year, of which 350,000 tons will be exported.
The project is financed by credits from the Chinese Exim Bank to the sum of $110.5 million, a loan from the Uzbek Fund for Reconstruction and Development for $128.1 million, as well as Uzhimprom SJC at $16.1 million.
The Chinese CITIC International Cooperation Co. Ltd implemented the construction of the processing complex for the production of 400,000 tons of potash per year amounting to $116.3 million.
Furthermore, along with the refining capacity it is planned to construct a cargo ropeway to a length of 33 kilometres and the production capacity of 2.1 million tons of ore per year within the framework of the project. The ropeway will connect the Tyubetagan field of potassium salts which is the raw material base of the enterprise with the processing complex. Until the third quarter of this year, the planned date of commissioning of the ropeway transportation of ore from the mining sector will be carried out by automobile transportation.
Work on the capacity expansion of the development complex plant amounting to $128 million is being carried out by the Russian Western Ural Machine Building Concern (ZUMK) JSC.
In September 2010, the Uzkimesanoat SJC commissioned the Dehkanabad potash fertiliser plant amounting $123.7 million and capacity of 200,000 tons of potash per year. Construction contractors were ZUMK and CITIC.
The plant was built on the basis of the Tyubetagan potash field in the Kashkadarya region on the border with Turkmenistan. The total industrial reserves of the field make up 400.2 million tons of ore containing potassium chloride at a level of 36.8 percent. The most promising part of the field with reserves of 200 million tons of ore was located in the territory of Uzbekistan.
Potash production in Uzbekistan decreased 1.3 times to 84.600 tons in 2013, according to official statistics.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.M.