Uzbekistan builds demand into minerals growth plan

Modern mining and green metal techno-parks are vital industrial components of “a new Uzbekistan”, senior Uzbekistan Technological Metals Complex executive Amir Abidov said this month, describing a “flagship industry” in the country’s 2030 economic growth strategy moving at impressive speed.

“We have 31 critical raw material elements listed,” said TMK’s deputy chairman for new technology development, innovation and artificial intelligence.

“The critical raw materials strategy has been made by our president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. He is an engineer. I am the executor of the strategy ... My purpose is to make this raw material finished product.”

Uzbekistan is pouring billions of dollars into a national development plan aimed at lifting the World Bank-ranked lower-middle-income nation of about 39 million people into the echelon of upper-middle-income countries. That involves, in the near term, expanding its gross domestic product from US$145 billion to more than $240 billion by 2030, lifting per-capita GDP by 160%.

The World Bank earlier this year had Uzbekistan pegged as one of the fastest-expanding emerging economies in Europe and Central Asia. Real GDP increased by a record 7.7% in 2025 and the bank posited 6.4% growth this year.

Like neighbour Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan is resource-rich. Abidov said the emphasis was on not just growing output of minerals such as tungsten, gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, rhenium, selenium, lithium, cadmium and rare earths. It was very much on building vertical value chains that delivered “finished products” and integrating them with domestic manufacturing and other industries.

The national strategy had accelerated outreach to international manufacturers, financiers, governments and technology companies. Abidov said a “multi-vector” approach to drawing in partners, funding and innovation was vital to sustainable economic development in one of the world’s two double landlocked countries. But building internal capacity – from science and engineering skills to viable industries at the top of value chains – was the real key to long-term national prosperity, he said.

“Multi-vector policy means no single dependency.

“China is good at and fast at building plants and providing the financing. [It is] very quick.

“Europe is very good in technology and international European standards are very nice and green.

“The United States is good at financing and offtake contracts.

“But the drawback of a single approach is that it’s not consistent. For example, the Chinese are good at building a plant very quickly but the technology transfer will be limited. The technology will work but we need human capital. We need our engineers to design a new plant based on [the best] knowledge.

“It’s not just about money [and] mature technology. It’s about advanced technology and the full value chain. For instance, if you want to produce semi-conductor grade selenium you cannot just buy the technical grade and use it. It will be [variable] technology. You have to go to the upstream and start from there to make full the chain which will match the final product.

“We also work on technology with the United States but rare earths technology, for example, is more developed in Europe and in China. So we need to fill all the gaps.

“So that’s the multi-vector approach. It means we need to get input across the value chain to improve this [mining and metals] and other industries.”

Established in 2024 out of the country’s national Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, TMK is the national vehicle for driving raw material production growth and building vertical value chains.

Abidov said a centralised structure meant TMK could plan and execute strategically and quickly. It was keen to leverage Uzbekistan’s aggressive renewable energy build-up: historically gas-dependent, the country was now sourcing a third of its power from renewables, he said. “You cannot produce green metals without green technology. So we are producing green metals and we are using the energy transition to do this.”

TMK had established three “techno-parks” around metal processing at Chirchik, Ohangaron and Jizzakh. The industrial zones are seeking to add residents, or tenants, and build out deep processing, advanced manufacturing and research and development capabilities.

“We have all the tax incentives and regulations in place for this,” Abidov said.

“We have our inner demand building as well. As such we produce now EV cars in the Jizzakh region.”

China’s BYD is reportedly exploring options to expand EV production at the factory it opened in partnership with Uzbekistan government-owned Uzavtosanoat JSC in 2024.

Currently said to employ about 1200 people, the Jizzakh site could ultimately provide as many as 10,000 jobs.

“TMK is also launching a new plant in November producing powder metallurgy-based powertrain components,” Abidov said.

“That is a result of a technology transfer with our South Korean partners [Korea Powder Metallurgy]”.