Uzbekistan Secures Chinese Deal to Boost Iron Ore Production
Uzbekistan has secured an agreement with Chinese partners to extract 650,000 tonnes of iron ore annually from the Surun-Ota deposit.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the joint venture during a government meeting focused on expanding the domestic metallurgical industry. The initiative capitalises on the country’s estimated 1.5 bn tonnes of iron ore reserves.
Under the agreed timeline, the Surun-Ota site will begin supplying iron ore concentrate to the Bekabad metallurgical plant by 2027. Mirziyoyev noted that launching the separate Tebinbulak deposit within the next four years will enable the production of up to 1 mln tonnes of steel annually.
To meet immediate industrial demand, the government signed a memorandum to purchase 700,000 tonnes of iron raw materials per year from neighbouring Tajikistan. The president ordered officials to finalise these contracts swiftly to ensure deliveries commence next year.
The state is also facilitating private sector involvement across the industry. Several independent metallurgical companies have expressed readiness to finance their own geological exploration and establish full-cycle production facilities.
A Samarkand-based enterprise proposed investing up to $500 mln in extraction operations if granted access to a deposit. Meanwhile, the Bekabad metallurgical plant requested development rights for the Temirkon deposit in the Forish district, which holds approximately 32 mln tonnes of iron ore, to expand its raw material base.
