Tajikistan - Country Commercial Guide
Mining and Refining, and Heavy Equipment
Last published date:

Overview

Tajikistan is a mountainous, mineral rich country with more than 600 documented deposits of some 50 different minerals including silver, gold, lead, zinc, antimony, mercury, molybdenum, tungsten, iron, tin, boron, strontium, fluorspar, rock salt, precious and semi-precious stones, bituminous coal, anthracite, graphite, mineral wax, and phosphates.  Mining production consists of enterprises for the extraction and processing of gold, silver, lead, antimony, feldspar, and tungsten and the extraction of coal, oil, gas, rock salt, rare and noble metals, precious and decorative stones, building materials, and mining and chemical raw materials.  Discovered deposits of silver, strontium, boron, and antimony are the largest in the CIS, feldspar and lead in Central Asia and rock salt on a global scale. Also, production reserves of copper, mercury, lead, bismuth, and molybdenum, as well as raw materials for aluminum production have been established.  Tajikistan’s extractive industries produce primarily for export, with the notable exceptions of raw materials used for cement production, gold used to bolster national currency reserves, and coal, oil, and natural gas consumed domestically for energy and as materials for concrete production. 

The mining industry accounted for 20.7% of industrial output in 2022, with 307 companies employing 13.5 thousand workers.  In 2022, the industrial sector received $130 million worth of credits and loans for operations, or 10% of all loans in the banking system with an average interest rate at 11.7%.  In 2022, Tajikistan exported precious and semi-precious stones and metals - $529.5 million, mineral products - $894 million, non-precious metals - $319.3 million.

Today, 307 medium and small enterprises operate, which mainly produce primary aluminum, wire rod, aluminum sheets, cornices, transformers with a capacity of up to 1000 kVA, industrial explosives, coated aluminum profiles, round and square metal profiles (84 standard sizes), construction fittings, corners, cryolite, aluminum fluoride, sulfuric acid, coagulant, and also assemble Akiya passenger buses, assemble Belarus-82.1 tractors, assemble trailers, and make plows, plastic profiles, and plastic pipes of various diameters.

Leading Subsectors

  • Heavy Mining Equipment, including earthmovers, road graders, and grinders
  • Mineral processing equipment
  • Refining and byproduct processing equipment
  • Processing equipment for masonry, construction-grade materials

Key Minerals

  • Silver – 100 thousand ton reserve of primary metal; lode also contains zinc and lead
  • Gold – graded at both industrial and non-industrial levels
  • Coal – estimated 3.6-billion-ton yield
  • Building materials: gabbro, granite, granodiorite, diorite, marble, marbled limestone, gypsum stone, loam, quartz sand and others.  Colored limestone facing stones.
  • Mercury and Antimony
  • Nepheline syenite: estimated 300 million tons
  • Tungsten: estimated 150-million-ton yield

Resources

 

Table: Toral market Size for Mining and Refining, and Heavy Equipment 
 2020202120222023 estimated
Total Local Production$415.0$747.0$870.0$950.0
Total Exports$371.0$223.0$400.0$500.0
Total Imports$128.0$112.0$151.0$170.0
Imports from the US$2.0$6.5$n/an/a
Total Market Size$172.0$636.0$621.0$620.0
Exchange Rates$1 = 10.338$1 = 11.2485$1= 10.2153$1 = 10.9637

(Total market size = (total local production + imports) - exports)
Units: $ millions