Uzbekistan, Tashkent, March 11 / Trend D.Azizov /
Korean Shindong Enercom and the Uzbek State Geology and Mineral Resources Committee (Goskomgeo) will create a $50-million joint venture to develop the Shavazsay lithium field in the Tashkent region by late 2010, a source in the Goskomgeo reported.
The second half of the agreement will be signed in the second half of 2010 and then the additional exploration of the deposit will begin.
Based on data from Goskomgeo, the field's approved reserves hit 120,000 tons of lithium dioxides with an average content of metal in the ore of 0.58 percent.
Based on calculations by Uzbek specialists, the volume of production of lithium carbonate could reach 3,700 tons per year.
Shindong Enercom Inc. operates on the Uzbek market since 1991. At the moment, the company is engaged in the textile, construction, energy, agriculture and extractive sectors of the country.
In August 2008, Shindong Enercom and Goskomgeo established the Uz-Shindong Silicon joint venture with a statutory fund of 4.2 million dollars to develop deposits of quartz in the Jizzak region. A commissioning of the mill with capacity of 6,000 tons per year is planned for the first quarter of 2010.
By late 2012, the joint venture intends to build a factory producing polycrystalline silicon with capacity of 10,000 tons per year. The total investment in the project will amount to about $40 million.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: [email protected]