Baku, Azerbaijan, February 12
Trend:
The US Geological Survey (USGS) may be attracted to assess the resources of rare earth metals in Uzbekistan, Trend reports with reference to the press service of Uzbek State Committee on Geology and Mineral Resources.
The State Committee held talks with the delegation of the USGS. The sides discussed prospects for cooperation in the field of mineral resource assessment, the exchange of data and experience, as well as the implementation of joint projects in Uzbekistan. They also spoke about the possibility of signing a memorandum of understanding and number of project proposals in preparation of this document.
Specialists from The US can be involved in assessing such resources of rare metals as lithium, cesium, beryllium, strontium, and also rare-earth metals such as titanium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, selenium, and rhenium.
The State Committee also suggested that representatives of the US Geoservice to consider the possibility of cooperation in cosmological research on non-ferrous metals in the territory of Bukantau Mountains in the Central Kyzyl Kum region. The list of joint projects under consideration includes the creation and implementation of a unified information service for monitoring and forecasting hazardous geological processes, the press service added.
Uzbek State Commmitte on Geology underlines that out of 435 known subsurface sites in Uzbekistan that are promising to identify deposits of precious, non-ferrous and rare metals and uranium, 380 sites (87 percent) are not covered by medium-term and long-term development programs and the reproduction of the country's mineral and raw material base and 120 (71 percent) of solid mineral deposits are not involved in mining.
Over the past ten years, foreign investments have been attracted to the geological study of 10 prospective areas, the development of two fields from the proposed 38 prospective areas and 159 investment blocks in the country. At the same time, only the initial stages of research were carried out on these projects without industrial development.