Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Oct.6 / Trend, D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan increased coal production by 1.6 percent in January - September 2011 compared to the same period of 2010 - to 2.653 million tons, the Uzbek State Statistics Committee said.
Including brown coal mining grew by 2 percent - to 2.612 million tons, coal mining dropped by 23.3 percent - to 40,700 tons. According to the State Statistics Committee, in 2010 Uzbekistan reduced coal production by 0.6 percent compared to 2009 - to 3.629 million tons. Brown coal mining in 2010 decreased by 0.5 percent - to 3.536 million tons, coal mining - by 5.5 percent - to 92,800 tons.
About 98 percent of the country's coal accounted for JSC "Uzbekugol," which deals with industrial development of Uzbekistan's largest Angren brown coal field in the Tashkent region with established coal resources in the amount of 1.9 billion tons.
The company "Shargunugol" owns a license to develop Baysun and Shargun coal fields in the Surkhandarya region in southern Uzbekistan with total established reserves at 45.8 million tons of coal.
The country's need for solid fuel is about four million tons annually. The main coal users in the country are "Uzbekenergo" enterprises. About three million tons of solid fuel per year account for them.