Almalyk, Uzbekistan Plans to Increase Domestic Copper Supply to 300,000 Tonnes

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 28, the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine of Uzbekistan proposed increasing copper supply to the domestic market to approximately 300,000 tonnes per year by 2030 and raising the share of domestically processed copper cathodes to 80%. The target was announced during the Uzbekistan International Mining and Metallurgy Forum UIMF 2026. Domestic copper demand in the country currently exceeds 100,000 tonnes per year.

Bekhzod Mamatov, First Deputy Chairman of the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, said that Uzbekistan's domestic copper demand was approximately 50,000 tonnes in 2021 and has now grown to more than 100,000 tonnes. Uzbekistan is building a copper industry cluster in Tashkent Region, with Almalyk supplying copper raw materials, and plans to gradually develop production of semiconductors, microelectronic components and other copper deep-processing products.

Almalyk is simultaneously expanding upstream beneficiation and smelting capacity. The No. 3 copper concentrator, commissioned in 2026, and the new copper smelting facility under construction will raise the company's annual copper cathode output from 148,500 tonnes in 2025 to 300,000 tonnes; the No. 4 copper concentrator is currently in the preliminary project preparation stage. The Government of Uzbekistan has previously proposed further expanding the scale of domestic copper resource development and deep processing by 2030.