Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Sept. 26 / Trend D. Azizov /
Uzbekistan plans to attract South Korean Posco company to implement the projects in the Uzbek coal industry, a source in Uzbekenergo told Trend on Wednesday.
The interlocutor of the agency said that the possibility of implementing the joint projects in the Uzbek coal industry was discussed with Posco president Chung Jung Young during Uzbek President Islam Karimov's recent visit to South Korea.
In particular, the Korean company was proposed to consider the participation in the modernization of "Apartak" mine in Angren brown coal deposit (Tashkent region).
The project's estimated cost is $ 100 million. A foreign investor plans to participate in the purchase of the necessary equipment, and the construction of a technological complex for sorting and loading coal into railroad cars.
It is estimated that coal extraction in the mine will increase by 7.3 times - up to 1.82 million tons by 2016 during the modernization operations.
The implementation of the project will provide the raw material base for the plant on diesel fuel synthesis from alternative lignite with a preliminary cost of $641 million (the coal to liquid process), to be built by 2018.
"Uzbekenergo" plans to attract a foreign partner to implement a joint project to build a plant with a capacity of 700,000 tons of brown coal.
Today, the company is negotiating with South Africa's Clean Coal Technology, German Alphakat Avermann, Caterpillar and Takraf.
The project with a preliminary cost of $ 640 million is planned to be financed by loans from foreign financial institutions, the loan of the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund and the project participants.
Uzbekistan has the proven coal reserves to the amount of 1.9 billion tons, including brown - 1.85 billion tons, coal - 47 million tons.
The predicted resources amount to over 5.7 billion tons of coal. Large coal reserves are concentrated in the southern regions of the country - Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya regions.
Currently, coal is extracted in three fields - Angren brown coal deposit, Shargun and Baysun coal deposits.
Uzbekistan produces more than 3 million tons of coal annually. According to the official statistics, coal production increased by 5.9 percent - to 3.844 million tons in 2011.
The main consumer of coal is the power sector. Over 85 percent of total coal consumption falls to it.