A court in Uzbekistan has declared bankrupt an Israeli-backed joint venture to produce molybdenum in the Central Asian country, an official from the company told Reuters on Wednesday.

The court ruling raises concerns of growing state involvement in the natural resources sector in Uzbekistan, where other foreign miners have been challenged in court over back tax claims and other alleged violations, Reuters reported.

The official for Uzmetal Technologies, half-owned by Israeli company Metal-Tech Ltd , said the firm would appeal the decision by the Tashkent regional court, which based its finding at least partly on the non-payment of dividends in 2005.

"We wanted to pay the dividends, but the protocol at the founders’ meeting was not signed because of the position of UzKTZhM," the official told Reuters.

The UzKTZhM plant is Uzbekistan’s only molybdenum and tungsten producer and owns 20 percent of Uzmetal Technologies. Almalyk Mining and Metals Plant, which supplies raw materials to the joint venture, owns the other 30 percent. Representatives of the court and the Uzbek partners in the joint venture were not available for comment.

U.S. gold miner Newmont Mining Corp and Britain’s Oxus Gold Plc have also both faced litigation related to their mining joint ventures in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan.

London-listed Metal-Tech produces molybdenum-based and tungsten-based products at its own plant in Israel and a joint venture in Mongolia, as well as in Uzbekistan. Its products are used in stainless steel, cutting tools and lubricants.

The Uzbek joint venture was founded in 2000 and started production two years later on the site of the UzKTZhM plant. Metal-Tech has invested about $20 million upgrading the molybdenum plant in Chirchik, near the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

UzKTZhM are the Russian-language initials for Uzbek Refractory and High-Temperature Materials Works.