Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (AGMK) with the support of leading South Korean research institutes has created the only scientific and technological center in Central Asia for the study of rare metals, the press service of the enterprise reported.

The basis for the creation of the center was the agreement between Uzbekistan and Korea on joint activities on rare metals signed in November 2017, as well as the agreement between AGMK and the Korean Institute of Rare Metals (KIRAM) on the creation of an Uzbek-Korean scientific and technological center of rare metals and alloys.

“This center is the only one in Central Asia and the best in equipping research of rare metals in the world. The Korean side intends to assist Uzbekistan in training specialists in rare metals and hard alloys. Cooperation with foreign partners will help increase the competitiveness of products, create production high value-added products, organize jobs and reach a new level of quality,” KITECH President Sung-il Yu said.

Here, he said, nanotechnology laboratories, hard alloys, mineral processing and others will function. The equipment of leading world manufacturers will be installed in them. His delivery has already begun, it was divided into three stages.

"In this center, the physicochemical and mechanical properties of metals will be investigated under laboratory conditions with the extraction of rare, rare-earth and noble ones. Here we will not only make the most up-to-date analysis methods with the definition of 70 chemical elements and minerals, but also use innovative technologies pure form or in the form of compounds ", - said the Chairman of the Board of AGMK Abdulla Khursanov.

Uzbekistan today possesses significant proven reserves of rare metals, as well as a reliable unexplored raw material base for the extraction and production of a number of rare, rare earth and trace metals. Some of them are concentrated in independent deposits, others can be extracted as by-product minerals. For example, the proven reserves of molybdenum exceed 204 thousand tons, tungsten trioxide - about 117 thousand.

The uniqueness of rare earth and trace metals in Uzbekistan, a wide range of their use, said Khursanov, open up huge opportunities and prospects for attracting foreign investors. Today, the AMMC has established close ties with the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology and the Korean Institute of Rare Metals. Especially, he added, this concerns the expansion and development of research infrastructure for rare metals, developed innovative technologies in this area.

The creation of a new scientific and technological center of the AGMK is a logical continuation of the initiated course on business development and the attraction of advanced technologies to the production of Uzbekistan. The new center opened on the territory of the former Uzbek plant of refractory and heat-resistant metals in Chirchiq, which in September 2016 became part of the AGMK.

As part of the opening of the science and technology center, an international science and technology conference was also held with the participation of specialists and experts from Uzbekistan and South Korea in the production of rare metals.