Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov have launched the Talas gold mine at the Dzherui field in Kyrgyzstan. Putin took part in the ceremony via video-conferencing.
The development of the largest Russian investment project in Kyrgyzstan is carried out by the company "Alliance Altyn" (a part of the "Alliance Group" of businessman Musa Bazhaev). The total investment in Dzherui mine development will amount to over $600 mln, the planned production of gold in 2021 will be about three tons.
Dzherui gold mine in Talas oblast of Kyrgyzstan was discovered by geologists of the Northern Kyrgyz expedition in 1968-1969. However, it was not until 17 years later that design and survey work was carried out on it and a feasibility study project was developed. The Soviet authorities at the same time planned to start construction of a gold mining complex on Dzherui, but due to the collapse of the USSR, the whole project was never implemented.
For 30 years of Kyrgyzstan's independence several companies, including world-renowned ones, have repeatedly tried to start the development of the mine. For various reasons, they failed to do so, including due to the presence of the state share in it. Only in 2015, Dzherui was sold by the state at an auction for $100 million to the Russian company "Vostok Geoldobycha". Subsequently, the Russian side established a subsidiary company "Alliance Altyn" specifically for the development of the deposit. Almost immediately after coming to the mine, "Alliance Altyn" began construction of a gold extraction plant in Talas oblast, which was 97% complete last fall. The mass riots in Kyrgyzstan in October 2020 and the change of government postponed the ceremony of the official launch of the plant.
The design capacity of the plant is about 1.3 million tons of ore per year. According to preliminary estimates, the reserves of gold-bearing ore at the Dzherui mine are estimated at 21 million tons, and gold reserves at 100 tons. The mine can also produce about 30 tons of silver. The precious metal is planned to be refined in Kyrgyzstan, and the National Bank of the republic has been given the preemptive right to purchase gold bullion.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS