Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Jan. 10 / Trend D. Azizov /
The Uzbek Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (AMMC) has signed a contract with Russian company Tyazhmash (Syzran, Samara Region) to purchase technological equipment worth $73.9 million, a representative of the combine said today.
Tyazhmash will supply modern grinding equipment to reconstruct crushing and milling workshops at the copper processing plant within 18 months, the interlocutor said.
An equipment supply contract was signed for the project worth $118 million to reconstruct the copper concentrating plant. As a result of reconstruction, the ore processing plant's capacity will increase from 29 million tons to 35 million tons.
The project will be financed through the Uzbek Reconstruction and Development Fund's loan to the sum of $80 million, local banks' loans $32 million and AMMC's own funds of $6 million.
The need for increasing the capacity of the concentrating plant is connected with AMMC's reconstructing the Kalmakir mine and expanding the Sary Ceku open pit.
Almalyk MMC is the only copper producer in Uzbekistan and one of the largest producers of nonferrous metals in Central Asia. The AMMC share accounts for about 90 per cent of silver production and 20 per cent of gold in the country. The plant composition consists of two mining companies, two processing and two metallurgical plants with their own infrastructure.
The raw material source of AMMC is the copper-porphyry ores of Kalmakyr and Sarah-Ceku (Tashkent region) and the deposit of lead-zinc-barite ore of Uch-kulaks (Djizzak).