Uzbekistan plans to double uranium production by 2030
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed a presentation on the priority tasks for 2026 and future plans of the "Navoiyuran" enterprise and the "Uzbekistan Technological Metals Plant" Joint Stock Company.
Uzbekistan Plans to Double Uranium Production by 2030
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed a presentation on the priority tasks for 2026 and future plans of the "Navoiyuran" enterprise and the "Uzbekistan Technological Metals Combinat" Joint Stock Company.
Currently, the demand for critical minerals and metals in the world is growing at a rapid pace. In particular, while the demand for traditional metals is increasing by an average of 1 percent per year, this figure stands at 10 percent in the critical minerals market.
Accordingly, extensive work is being carried out in our country to effectively use the existing mineral raw material base, manufacture products with high added value, and increase export potential.
During the presentation, the activities of the "Uzbekistan Technological Metals Combinat" and plans for its development were first reviewed.
Special attention is being paid at the combinat to forming a complete technological chain from geological exploration to mining, enrichment, deep processing, and the production of finished products.
By the end of the current year, it is planned to launch 12 investment projects, expand the range of localized products, and increase the production of high-purity selenium and tellurium.
The head of state set the task of accelerating promising projects on critical minerals and mastering the production of an additional 11 types of products (nickel, cobalt, graphite, antimony, tin, manganese, platinum, vanadium, mercury, and copper) in addition to the existing 5 types of products (tungsten, molybdenum, selenium, tellurium, rhenium). It was also emphasized that it is important to broadly involve scientific achievements in the sector and identify additional mineral reserves.
According to the plan, it is envisaged to increase the production volume of 16 types of critical metals to over 2.7 billion dollars by 2030.
In particular, major projects for the deep processing of tungsten have been developed. For their implementation, it is intended to attract 1.1 billion dollars in investments and to bring the production volume in this direction to nearly 2.2 billion dollars by 2030.
Furthermore, proposals were reviewed regarding the development of promising areas rich in rare and rare-earth elements, expanding the resource base of the combinat, and accelerating investment projects.
The presentation also discussed the activities of the "Navoiyuran" enterprise in the current year and its production development plans.
In recent years, the demand for uranium raw materials on the global market has increased by 15-20 percent. By 2030, it is expected to grow by another 28 percent.
Under such conditions, increasing the volume of uranium mining in our country, developing new deposits, enhancing production efficiency, and sustainably providing the uranium industry with necessary resources are assuming great importance.
To this end, it is planned this year to expand geological exploration and technological drilling operations, develop production infrastructure, launch additional sorption units, and create 250 new jobs.
The supply of necessary chemical reagents plays an important role in increasing the production volumes of the enterprise. Therefore, information was presented on the work being carried out to strengthen cooperation among domestic industrial enterprises and to increase the supply volumes of technical sulfur, sulfuric acid, and nitric acid.
Our President noted the need to expand the use of alternative technologies in production and to bring the share of reagents replacing sulfuric acid to 40 percent by 2030.
In general, through these measures and new production capacities, it is planned to increase the volume of uranium production from 7.5 thousand tons this year to 15 thousand tons by 2030, and the volume of identified reserves to 200 thousand tons.
At the end of the presentation, relevant instructions were given to officials regarding the timely implementation of investment projects, strengthening the mineral raw material base of enterprises, commissioning new technological capacities, manufacturing high value-added products, and increasing export volumes.