More than 40 million tons of copper reserves discovered in Uzbekistan

At the briefing, spokesman Sherzod Asadov discussed the events of last week. In particular, he talked about a meeting of June 28 on the further development of copper production and an industrial cluster creation.

Then the head of state outlined the need to avoid selling copper as raw material and process it into a value-added product.

Today, Uzbekistan exports about 60 percent of copper as raw materials. Revenues from the sale of copper amounted to $2.5 billion. With an increase in production to 400 thousand tons in the next five years, this figure may reach $7-8 billion.

According to the data, for each job created in the copper industry with the cluster method, up to 6 new jobs in related fields (electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering) can be provided - the number of jobs will increase six times.

To this end, the country will create a copper industry cluster, which will cover all processes from design to production of finished products.

"At the same time, exploration work will continue. At the meeting, the leader of our country instructed to develop a five-year program to expand the exploration of non-ferrous and rare metals," Sherzod Asadov said.