After re-admission to the International Mining Transparency Initiative, Tajikistan published its first report on this lucrative sector.
The authorities said that in 2019-2021, several companies were granted the right to search and extract gold, silver and other precious minerals.
Something that should have been published and made available to everyone a few years ago, but was not followed and the presence of Tajikistan in the International Transparency Initiative was temporarily suspended.
Isfandiyor Yazdonzoda, coordinator of the Transparency Initiative in the field of mining in Tajikistan, attributed the late availability of the report to the spread of COVID-19. The authorities also mentioned the lack of money in their conclusion.
The new report (the fourth report since Tajikistan joined the International Transparency Initiative) was presented on September 28 in Dushanbe. It was made available by the International Transparency Initiative in May of this year.
Therefore, 14 companies, including the Tajikistan-China Mining Industry Enterprise and TBEA, have received licenses for exploration work in Sughd Khatlon and the Rasht region until 2031. Seventeen companies have been granted rights for mining in 2020-2021. “Tajik Gold” is also among them.
But what worries many people in Tajikistan is why accurate statistics about precious minerals are still not published? Isfandiyar Yazdonzoda said, “We are waiting for the adoption of relevant documents. At that time, such information will be available to interested parties.”
Some representatives of the companies say that the problem is not only in the disclosure of rare mineral mining statistics. On September 28, Tatyana Kirillova, advisor to the executive director of the Tajik-American company “Anzob”, said: “Not all websites of government offices will be opened. Perhaps the leaders of these institutions are not interested in their website being active and people getting information from there.”
Mrs. Kirillova added that the information sector in the mining licensing sector is particularly worrying. “Such information should be available to everyone, but this is a bit slow,” he said.
According to the fourth report “Initiative of transparency in the field of mining in Tajikistan”, dozens of companies are currently engaged in the exploration and extraction of various minerals in the country. Studying this list shows that some of them are Chinese companies or joint companies between Tajikistan and China.
This order has led to the impression among the residents that the authorities have easily left the extraction of important deposits of the country in the hands of Chinese companies.
Expert Jahangir Ne’matov said that in fact the license is given to companies after full training. “In recent years, some licenses have been issued through competition. Some licenses are issued through preliminary negotiations,” he explained.
Last year, hundreds of thousands of tons of ore were transported from Tajikistan abroad, mainly to China. Its total cost reaches 731 million dollars. Last year, Singapore became one of the suppliers of precious metal minerals of Tajikistan. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are also in this line.
Source : Радио Озоди