On a recent swing through Colorado, the president of Uzbekistan, Islom Karimov, announced that his country is soliciting bids for a group of properties in the Central Asian country. Up for bid are seven gold properties and several other precious and base metals properties.
The Tamdytau area, comprising 260 sq. km, includes the Balpantau gold deposit, which is hosted in Paleozoic volcanogenic and sedimentary rocks and contains 18.7 million tonnes grading 1.24 grams per tonne. The area also includes the Tamdybulak gold deposit, along with other gold, silver and tungsten occurrences.
The Airak area comprises 430 sq. km in the northeastern part of the Aristantau Mountains. An open-pit gold target, the Aristantau deposit contains an estimated 25.5 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams.
Also up for bid are the 545-sq.-km Kattaiche area, which hosts three main targets and the 620-sq.-km Tandyr area, which hosts the Pistaly deposit. The Pistaly contains an estimated 836,000 tonnes grading 16.1 grams.
The 220 sq.-km Rokhat area contains several minor gold deposits, and the 305-sq.-km Karamurun area contains the Karamurun copper deposit and the Orazaly copper-molybdenum occurrence. The 1,520-sq.-km Jetimtau, however, has not received as much exploration as other areas.
One of the non-gold tenders is the Aktepe silver deposit in the Tashkent region, in the eastern part of the country. That deposit, which is estimated at 2.2 million tonnes grading 4,500 grams of silver per tonne, contains many discrete veins of high-grade silver hosted in a monzonite intrusive.
Another Western company to recognize the potential for mining in Uzbekistan include Newmont Gold (NGC-N), which has invested US$225 million to construct a heap-leach operation at the Murantau gold mine. The project is processing more than 200 million tonnes from stockpiles collected over 30 years of operation.
Meanwhile, Newmont and its new Japanese partner, Mitsui, are negotiating with the government over the Angren gold deposit in the eastern part of that country.
British miner Lonhro is scheduled to begin construction in August on the first phase of development at the Daughiztau and Amantaytau gold deposits.
The total estimated cost of the project is US$406 million, with US$204 million budgeted for the first phase.
Western Mining of Australia has made a deal for the development of the Zarmitan and Ghujumsay gold fields in the Samarkand region and Marjanbulak in the Jizzek region.
Teck (TEK-T) has begun work on its Zoloto Pustiny joint venture in the Central Kyzylkum region, and RTZ has a 3-year exploration agreement for western Uzbekistan.
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