TASHKENT

Uzbekistan’s government is considering selling a stake of up to 10-15 percent in the country’s biggest gold and uranium producer Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combine (NMMC) in 2024, as a part of the Central Asian nation’s comprehensive privatisation programme.

NMMC is wholly owned by Uzbekistan’s government. The main gold ore base of the enterprise is one of the world’s largest deposits, Muruntau in the central Kyzyl Kum. The plant includes four hydrometallurgical plants, one heap leaching mine, and a gold processing mill. It mined around 2.6 million ounces of gold last year, placing fifth among the world’s largest gold mining companies.

Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Kucharov told foreign partners and investors gathered in the capital Tashkent for the Uzbekistan Economic Forum that the state-owned gold and uranium combinate was undergoing a transformation process.

“There is no final decision yet. However, I think it will be decided by 2024,” Kuchkarov said.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev ordered NMMC to be changed into a joint-stock company, with a modern corporate governance system and financial statements prepared in line with international standards. This also includes spinning off its gold business into a separate legal entity, a process now underway.

NMMC produces fine gold, uranium oxide, silver, and other mineral resources and owns Muruntau, the world’s largest gold mine in terms of production and estimated reserves. Its other mining facilities are located in the cities of Zarafshan, Uchkuduk, Nurabad, and Navoi and include five metallurgical complexes and 13 mines.

The Central Asian country is making efforts to improve its investment climate after more than two decades of economic isolation. The closed, autarkic system viewed most foreign investments as a threat. That ended when Islam Karimov, who had led Uzbekistan since before the Soviet breakup, died in 2016.

Mirziyoyev, once a prime minister under Karimov, has made attracting foreign investors one of his top priorities in an increasingly ambitious plan to open Uzbekistan to the outside world.

The president has approved a list of companies to go public in the next three years. The list includes the national air carrier Uzbekistan Airways as well as major companies in energy, mining, banking and insurance.

In April, Uzbekistan offered 50 mining and prospective fields to foreign and domestic investors “on the basis of open and transparent market mechanisms” in order to determine mineral reserves and raise mining production.

The country is among the 10 leading countries in the world for reserves of gold, uranium, copper, potassium salts, phosphorites and kaolin.

Since 2018, a global management consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), has been advising Uzbekistan’s State Geology Committee to develop a strategy to accelerate the process of securing foreign investment, as well as the portfolio of priority areas and deposits to be offered to foreign investors.