en.Wedoany.com Reported - Uzbek Metallurgical Combine (Узбекский металлургический комбинат) has launched a new casting and rolling complex, with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (Шавкат Мирзиёев) announcing the official commissioning of the facility.

The construction of the new plant cost 8 trillion UZS. The complex currently employs 1,200 people and is planned to produce 1 million tonnes of hot-rolled coils annually.

At the commissioning ceremony of the new production platform, the head of state set the task of fully securing steel production with domestic raw materials. He noted that Uzbekistan's underground reserves contain 1.5 billion tonnes of iron ore and urged accelerating the development of these reserves.

By 2027, the Uzbek Metallurgical Combine will receive iron concentrate from the Surun-ota (Сурун-ота) deposit. To this end, with the participation of Chinese investors, a beneficiation plant will be built locally, designed to process 650,000 tonnes of raw materials per year, according to Spot magazine.

Within the next 3 to 4 years, industrial development of the Tebinbulak (Тебинбулак) deposit will begin, which will increase Uzbekistan's annual steel production to 1 million tonnes.

The metallurgical industry plans to attract foreign capital. Currently, investors are ready to invest up to $500 million in developing a deposit in Samarkand Region (Самаркандская область).

The Uzbek Metallurgical Combine is reviewing an application concerning the development of 32 million tonnes of iron ore reserves in the Farish District (Фаришский район) of Jizzakh Region (Джизакская область). Predicted iron resources also exist in Tashkent Region (Ташкентская область) and Surkhandarya Region (Сурхандарьинская область).

Uzbekistan has a demand for ferroalloys to improve steel properties, so the president ordered strengthening geological exploration to expand the raw material base of the metallurgical industry.

Currently, the needs of Uzbekistan's metallurgical enterprises are met with the help of neighboring countries. The head of state instructed accelerating work on a contract with Tajikistan for the purchase of 700 tonnes of iron ore raw materials. Deliveries are planned to begin from 2027.