AMMC begins construction of a railway infrastructure for developing the “Yoshlik I” field

Almalyk MMC began construction of the railway infrastructure for developing the “Yoshlik I” deposit, the press service of the company reported.

The total cost of the project to develop a new field is about $1.7 billion. It will be developed in two stages: production capacity of 23 million tons of ore per year is expected to reach in 2029, and 35 million tons per year – by 2035.

“Now the construction of the quarry’s railway infrastructure is in full swing. In January of this year, laying 250 meters of the railway track was carried out. In February, another 350 meters were added to this. Total length of the route will be 2.4 kilometers. A large amount of work is ahead, as in some places it is necessary to lower the soil level by 7-9 meters, so that loaded rolling stock can rise to the place of offloading,” deputy head of the Railway Center-1 (railway workshop) Ulugbek Kasymov said.

Also, he said, reconstruction of the “Kalmakyr”, “Koltsevaya” railway stations and the railway line between them will be carried out, during which all these objects will be equipped with modern devices of the electric axle counting system and microprocessor centralization. This will ensure the safety of trains and increase throughput.

As the “Yoshlik I” deposit is developed, new railway stations— “Novoporodnaya”, “Karyernaya”, “Yoshlik” and “Noviy Razyezd” will be built to service it. They will also be equipped with modern equipment. For example, by the third quarter of this year, the team of the “Yoshlik” mine at the “Kalmakyr” ore department plans to prepare a route for the construction of the “Novoporodnaya” station.

“Among other things, the “Yoshlik I” quarry will be equipped with new modern railway equipment. Five locomotives of the TEM18DM series, 116 dump cars 2VS-105 (dump trucks), four hopper-feeders (cars for gravel dumping), a machine for changing the sleepers PRM-5U and others have already been purchased. In the near future, the arrival of traction units, a crane on a railway track with a lifting capacity of 80 tons, an auto-locomotive for the repair of a contact network and much more is expected. Most of the new railway equipment is planned to be purchased this year,” Kasimov emphasized.

Thanks to this project, another plant will appear in the country with its own quarry and processing complex – a processing plant, a copper smelter with sulfuric acid and oxygen production. More than 35 million tons of ore per year will be mined and processed here, which will enable the AMMC to increase the production of copper and precious metals. There will also be provided a rhythmic and stable activity of the plant divisions.

Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine is the only copper producer in Uzbekistan. The company produces refined copper, zinc metal, molybdenum, lead concentrate and other products. It accounts for about 90% of silver production and 20% of gold in the republic. Since August 2018, the state share in the enterprise has been transferred into trust management of a foreign company SFI Management Group.