The main gold reserves are concentrated in the gold deposits proper — the Central Kyzylkums. Among the world’s giants is the Muruntau deposit – the largest known on the Eurasian continent, with a high gold content in the ore.

In recent years, gold deposits have been identified and explored in the Samarkand and Tashkent regions with highly developed infrastructure. Along with Muruntau, new deposits have been identified and studied in Kyzylkum, which is the largest gold province in the world: Ajibugut, Bulutkan, Balpantau, Aristantau, Turbay, and others.

The Republic has its own silver deposits. These are the deposits of High Voltage, Okzhetpes, Kosmonachi in the Navoi region, and Aktepa in the Namangan region. A significant number of approved reserves relate to gold and copper-porphyry deposits.

AGMK is a key player in the silver market, producing 90% of the metal in the territory of Uzbekistan.

Over the past 5 years, Uzbekistan has increased copper production by 1.5 times — in 2020, AGMK reported 148 thousand tons of copper. According to this indicator, the country ranked third in the CIS after Russia and Kazakhstan.

In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 06/24/2021 No. PP-5159 “On additional measures for the development of the mining and metallurgical industry and related industries”, a scientific and technological Cluster is being created in the Republic of Uzbekistan, forming a chain of exploration – production – processing – products with high added value.

The exploration program for the next 5 years plans to increase reserves: gold – 730 tons, copper – 1,5 million tons. In 2023, a new copper processing plant with a processing capacity of about 60 million tons of ore per year is planned to be put into operation on the basis of the Yeshlik-1 deposit.

Along with the production of precious metals, uranium is produced in Uzbekistan, for which a large mineral resource base has been created. The proven reserves of uranium ensure its extraction for 50-60 years.

Rich natural reserves of uranium ores are located in the bowels of the country on the territory of Fergana. According to the results of the assessment of the annual production of these ores, Uzbekistan steadily took 7th place.

Since there is no nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan, all uranium is exported. Until 2014, uranium mining in Uzbekistan was also monopolized. The only player in the market is Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (NMMC). Subsequently, the Uzbek authorities came to an agreement with China on the establishment of a joint venture Uz-ChinaUran.

Along with uranium, valuable components are extracted: rhenium, scandium, lanthanides, and others.

Uzbekistan has significant proven reserves of none—ferrous metals – copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, and other metals of this group.

Copper ores are accompanied by more than 15 types of non-ferrous metals, such as gold, silver, molybdenum, cadmium, indium, tellurium, selenium, rhenium, cobalt, nickel, osmium, and others.

A characteristic feature is that ore mining is carried out mainly in an open-pit manner, which ensures the profitability of the mines. The existing quarries are capable of producing copper and related metals for 40-50 years, and zinc and lead — for more than 100 years.

The reserves of non-ferrous metal ores are mainly concentrated in the Almalyk ore field. The Kalmakyr deposit is unique, and significantly surpasses foreign analogs in the extraction of copper-molybdenum ores. The ore processing of this deposit is carried out by the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, which is one of the largest enterprises in Uzbekistan.

In addition, the promising Dalnoye copper deposit has been explored with large reserves of copper, molybdenum, gold, silver, rhenium, tellurium, selenium, and sulfur.

The Dalny deposit is unique in terms of proven reserves, production costs, and the degree of recoverability of minerals and has no similar analogs in the CIS countries.

Lead-zinc deposits are mainly concentrated in the Uchkulach deposits in the Jizzakh region and Khandiza in the Surkhandarya region.

Copper, silver, cadmium, selenium, gold, and indium are present in the Khandiza deposit along with lead and zinc. With the growth of the conjuncture of these metals on the international market, it is possible to expand their production in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan has unique reserves of rhenium, which is associated with the copper ores of the Almalyk deposits. According to the content of rhenium in molybdenum concentrate, they have no analogs in world practice. In industry, rhenium is widely used for the production of heat-resistant alloys for aviation and space technology, electronic devices, and catalysts for oil cracking.

There are huge deposits of gas and oil in the bowels of the Republic. Approximately 60% of the country’s territory is considered promising for their extraction.

A significant share of the reserves of fuel and energy raw materials in the deposits of Uzbekistan is natural gas. The largest number of mining sites are concentrated near the Uzbek cities of Gazli and Karshi. The eleventh place in the world was taken by the national gas company “Uzbekneftegaz” based on the volume of natural gas produced annually. The volume of extraction of this natural resource by the national company has reached 60-70 billion cubic meters.

The Kashkadarya and Bukhara regions are large areas of natural gas. Almost 3/4 of the natural gas produced in Uzbekistan falls in the Kashkadarya region.

Oil is the second largest fuel and energy mineral in terms of production.

The territories are especially rich in oil deposits:

Ferghana Valley; Andijan region; Surkhandarya region; Namangan region;

Bukhara region; Kashkadarya region (the largest deposit is Kokdumalak).

The Kokdumalak oil basin is half located on the territory of Turkmenistan bordering Uzbekistan.

There are major foreign players in the oil and gas industry market — ChinaNationalPetroleumCorporation (China), KNOC (Korea), Gazprom, and Lukoil (Russia). Among the locals, the largest is the state—owned company Uzbekneftegaz.

Uzbekistan also has large coal reserves and ranks 2nd in Central Asia in terms of its geological reserves. Three coal deposits have been discovered in the republic — Angren in the Tashkent region, Shargun and Baysun in the Surkhandarya region. The most significant among these deposits is the Angren brown coal deposit. It is mined mainly in a cheap, open-source way.

Minerals for the construction industry are mined almost throughout the country:

• sand
• crushed stone
• marble
• gypsum
• wall stone
• gravel
• expanded clay

In most open areas where marble and gabbro occur, a large color palette of stone is mined (from black shades to white). These natural reserves are considered the most significant in the entire Eurasian territory.20 deposits of marble, and 15 of granite and gabbro have been identified in the republic.

The total reserves of facing stone exceed 85 million cubic meters, which provides stone processing enterprises with raw materials for hundreds of years.

Rocks used in the jewelry industry have been found in more than 50 places.

• marble onyx
• jasper
• amethyst
• turquoise

The forecast estimate of the reserves of proven fine-grained Moroccan-type phosphorites at the Jeroy-Sardarinsky phosphorite deposit is about 100 million tons. Currently, the Kyzylkum phosphate combine is under construction with the production of 2,7 million tons of phosphate concentrate.

In addition, the Karakatinsky field has been previously explored and the North-Jetytau field, which is also located in the Central Kyzylkums, has been evaluated. The predicted reserves of phosphorites, according to geologists, are almost limitless.

The involvement of phosphorites in economic turnover is caused by the fact that Uzbekistan has created the largest capacities for the production of phosphate fertilizers — amorphous and superphosphate ammonia. At the same time, the explored deposits of phosphorites with reserves of about 300 million tons are practically not used.

In order to increase the export potential for the production of phosphate fertilizers and taking into account the presence of significant reserves of phosphorites, it is possible to organize production for their enrichment with the participation of foreign investors on the basis of the Karakatinsky and Severo-Dzhetytau deposits of phosphorites.

Uzbekistan has the largest deposits of potash salts — Tyubegatan in the Kashkadarya region and Khodjaikan in the Surkhandarya region. The availability of potash salts is estimated to be more than 100 years.

On the basis of the Tyubegatan potash salt deposit, it is planned to organize the production of potash fertilizers with the participation of foreign investors. Complex processing of salts makes it possible to simultaneously obtain iron bromide, magnesite and gypsum, and other materials.

The republic has rich deposits of rock salt. The forecast estimates of the identified 5 deposits of rock salt — Khodjaikansky, Tyubegatan, Barsakelmessky, Baybichekansky, and Akkalinsky amount to over 90 billion tons. Currently, the salts of the Barsakelmessky deposit are supposed to be used as raw materials for the production of calcined and caustic soda.