Uzbekistan is located in the geo-center of Central Asia, at the crossroads of the Eurasian continent between the east and the west and the north and the south. It is one of the only two dual-landlocked countries in the world. As early as BC, Uzbekistan became an important region where the civilization of Central Asia originated, with unique geographical and cultural advantages.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Uzbekistan's economy has maintained a steady and high-speed growth momentum, with an average GDP growth rate of 8.17% in the past decade.
China has become Uzbekistan's largest trading partner since 2016 and has remained the country's largest trading partner for three consecutive years.
Affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the bilateral trade volume between China and Uzbekistan in 2020 was 6.43 billion US dollars, down 8.9% year on year.
However, according to the prediction of the Asian Development Bank, Uzbekistan may surpass Kazakhstan and become the new economic leader in Central Asia in 20 years due to its diversified and autonomous economic system and market structure, and the opening and cooperation of the mining market will play an important role.
Uzbekistan is rich in mineral resources. Its dominant minerals include natural gas, oil, gold, uranium, copper, potash, lead, zinc and phosphate, etc. The reserves of gold, uranium, copper and potash all rank among the top 10 in the world, which can effectively serve Uzbekistan's future economic development.
In terms of energy and minerals, Uzbekistan has proven reserves of 100 million tons of oil and 2.24 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, with an annual output of 2.5 million tons and 50 billion cubic meters respectively. Apart from meeting domestic demand, Uzbekistan has surplus for export.
Proved reserves of uranium are nearly 140,000 tons, accounting for 2.3% of global reserves and ranking tenth in the world.
In 2020, 3,409 tons will be mined, all of which will be exported.
In terms of precious metals, Uzbekistan's gold reserves are 5,990.5 tons, ranking 10th in the world, and its mining volume ranks 11th in the world, with a production of 88.5 tons in 2019.
According to the estimation of Uzbekistan National Commission of Geology and Mineral Resources, the cost of gold exploration in Uzbekistan is only 0.48 US dollars per gram, far lower than the world average.
In terms of non-ferrous metals, Uzbekistan has rich reserves of copper, tungsten and lithium of 25 million tons, 21,600 tons and 123,600 tons respectively.
In ferrous metals, Uzbekistan has about 4 billion tons of iron ore resources and 150 million tons of ore reserves. Its domestic demand for iron ore is about 900,000 tons/year, of which 35% needs to be met by imports.
According to the statistics of the Uzbek Commission of Geology and Mineral Resources, 45% of the appropriation from the state budget is used for gold exploration, 17% for uranium, 5.5% for non-ferrous metals, 7.1% for regional geological survey and 5.3% for scientific research.
Therefore, although the overall level of geological work in Uzbekistan is relatively high, the research on minerals other than bulk minerals and precious metals, such as PGE, chromite, tin, bismuth, graphite, etc., is not sufficient, and there are still many blank areas with great prospecting space and investment potential.
PUDA mineral packing machine.
