TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, May 6. Uzbekistan plans to implement promising projects worth $500 million on rare earth metals with the participation of foreign experts and investors, Trend reports.
This issue was reviewed at a meeting held by the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to discuss tasks in the spheres of geology and metallurgical industry.
During the meeting, the president noted that the country needs to develop this area with a scientific approach, to organize a project office for this purpose, and to attract leading institutes and scientific centers.
He emphasized the necessity to expand the development of existing deposits and explore new deposits of critical raw materials.
The president of Uzbekistan mentioned that six types of such raw materials are obtained in Uzbekistan. At the same time, there is an opportunity to obtain products with high added value from platinum, indium, and vanadium metals, as well as minerals containing tungsten, molybdenum, rhenium, zinc, and manganese. For this purpose, the country's previously non-existent powder metallurgy can organize $300 million worth of output and $100 million a year in equipment and components.
Meanwhile, the volume of the metallurgical industry's production in Uzbekistan amounted to 32.6 trillion soums ($2.5 billion) from January through March 2024.
At the same time, the volume of other non-metallic mineral products reached 5.6 trillion soums ($441.2 million) during this period.