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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)


Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Navoi MMC)
Navoi, Uzbekistan
40°04'N 65°20'E

    Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine 
Prikaspiyskiy Mining and Melting Combined Works
27, Navoi Street Navoi-2, 706800 Uzbekistan
Telephone: (436) (22) 3-29-28
Telefax:   (436) (22) 3-99-51

The construction of the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Navoi MMC) was initiated to exploit uranium deposits in the Kyzylkum province in 1958. The construction of the first gold mine was initiated in 1964 to exploit deposits of auriferous ores.

At present the Navoi MMC incorporates mines, open pits, HMPs, a sulfuric acid production plant, and underground leaching shops. There are three mining departments (MDs) in the structure of the enterprise: the Northern MD, the Southern MD and the Central MD that extract uranium by the underground leaching (UL) method. In the Northern MD the UL grounds disposed over an area of 1283 m2 at a distance of 1.0-1.5 km from the town of Uchkuduk were decommissioned in 1975-89. In the Southern MD five UL grounds, 1-6 km distant from the settlement of Nurabad, were decommissioned in 1982 - 90. On-site dumps of unamenable ores were built up for the operation period of a mine 1.5 km distant from the Nurabad settlement. The mine was in operation from 1965 to 1982. In the site of the Central MD 15 km distant from the town of Zarafshan uranium was mined in 1979-90.

An HMP flooding tailings dump located at a distance of 1 km from the settlement of Durmyan over an area of 6022 thousand m2 has been in operation since 1964. This tailings dump is provided with a recycling water supply system and hydraulic feed of the HMP tailings when the fluid fraction of the pulp returns into the HMP. The tailings dump has accumulated to date 52,800 thousand tonnes of waste containing uranium, radium and polonium.

Uzbekistan is rich in natural resources that Western companies have been eager to exploit. Uzbekistan is the world's seventh largest producer of gold (with only 25 percent of the proven fields in production) and contains the fourth largest reserves. Currently the world's fourth largest uranium producer and also has a highly developed copper industry. Uzbekistan also possesses substantial hydrocarbon resources, particularly in natural gas, where it is among the world's 10 top producers. More than 160 oil and gas fields have been discovered. In the oil industry, Uzbekistan has obtained the distinction of being the only former Soviet state to enhance production since independence.

Uzbekistan was the world's fifth largest uranium producer in 1998. In 1998, Uzbekistan produced 2000 metric tons of Uranium - nearly 6% of the world's total - and set a target production level of 3,000 tons by end-2000. Uzbekistan exported nearly $11 million in uranium concentrate to the United States in 1996.

Uzbekistan's uranium reserves rank in seventh place worldwide. However, exploitation methods in Uzbekistan have changes as its conventional mines have closed, and production is now dependent upon in-situ leach technology. The Navoi Mining Enterprise has set up a joint venture with France's Cogema to develop the Sagraly deposit with an estimated 38,000 tons of reserves.

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