Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Jan. 28
By Demir Azizov- Trend:
The Uzbek Metallurgical Plant JSC ("Uzmetkombinat", the city of Bekabad, Tashkent region) in 2016 will begin construction of the production complex on the basis of the Tebinbulak deposit of titan magnetite ores, the State Committee for Geology and Mineral Resources of Uzbekistan (Goskomgeo) told Trend.
The preliminary cost of the complex is $600 million, the committee said.
"The project is being implemented to create the own resource base of the plant, which accounts for more than 90 percent of the black metallurgy products in the country," according to the committee.
The project envisages the creation of the mining complex with a capacity of 14.7 million tons of iron ore with the release of titanium and vanadium, as well as the development of production of 500,000 tons of steel products annually in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan (northwest Uzbekistan) until late 2020.
Tebinbulak field was discovered in 1937. Its inferred resources are 3.5 billion tons of ore, and proven reserves are 450 million tons. Due to high investment costs the deposit has not yet been developed.
The field will provide work for Uzmetkombinat for decades, and solves the problem with the raw material.
Uzmetkombinat is the only company of black metallurgy in Central Asia working on scrap metal. The plant was put into operation in 1956. Previously, it recycled scrap metal coming from all the republics of the USSR, and currently uses scrap produced in the country, as well as raw materials purchased outside of the country under the terms of tolling.
In 2014 Uzmetkombinat increased steel production by 0.7 percent, or up to 746,200 tons compared to 2013, production of rolled ferrous metals - by one percent, or up to 725,200 tons. The data on the results of 2015 haven't been made public yet.