Mining in Tajikistan
Encyclopedia
Tajikistan
has rich deposits of gold
, silver
, and antimony
. The largest silver deposits are in Sughd Province, where Tajikistan’s largest gold mining operation also is located. Russia’s Norilsk
nickel company has explored a large new silver deposit at Bolshoy Kanimansur. More than 400 mineral deposits of some 70 different minerals have been discovered in Tajikistan, including strontium
, tungsten
, molybdenum
, bismuth
, salt
, lead
, zinc
, fluorspar, and mercury
. These minerals have been found suitable for mining. Uranium
, an important mineral in the Soviet era, remains in some quantity but is no longer extracted. The Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO), an aluminium
smelter, is the country's only large-scale production enterprise in the mining sector. Tajikistan hosts the annual Mining World Tajikistan, an international exhibition on mining in Dushanbe
.
explored early mining sites in the eastern Tajikistan mountains.
Rare metals were not mined in Tajikistan before the World War II. The output of concentrates of rare metals in 1943, however, exceeded that of 1941 by sixty times, and that of 1942 by ten times.
No copper, molybdenum, tungsten, or zinc has been produced in recent years and mining activity since the 1990s has been severely disrupted due to civil war and political conflict.
Mineral exports contribute substantially to the national economy of Tajikistan. According to the 2008 statistics of the World Bank
, aluminium contributed about 50% to the national exchequer, with aluminium and cotton accounting for 9% of the gross domestic product
.
in Tajikistan is significant to the world mineral market. According to estimates from the Tajik Academy of Sciences
, gold deposits are estimated at 429.3 tonne
s. Tajikistan’s largest gold mining operation is located in Sughd Province, with most gold being mined southeast of Gharm, in the Pamir Mountains
, in the Yakhsu Valley, Chkalovsk
, and Jilau. It has taken off since independence from Russia with 2700 kilograms (5,952.5 lb) of gold mined in 2000 compared to 1,100 in 1996. However, the Darvaz
joint venture did exploit the gold from 1997 to 1999, because its equipment was severely damaged by conflict in the region. As of 2011, Tajikistan produces up to 1.3–1.5 tonnes of gold annually, with a significant investment from China, with Zijin Mining
working in the country. In January 2011, according to geologist Azim Ibrokhim, two massive gold deposits were discovered, one in the centre of the country contains 118 tonnes and the other in the north, which is believed to have 59 tonnes of gold.
The Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO; previously TadAZ, "Tajikistan Aluminium Smelter"), an aluminium
smelter, is Tajikistan's only large-scale production enterprise in the mining sector, and runs one of the world's largest aluminium manufacturing plants, located in Tursunzade
, in the country's western area. Its production capacity is reported to be 517,000 t/year (accounting for consumption of 40% of electrical energy generated in the country) and most of it is exported with only about 5000 t/year consumed within the country. As of 2006, the company was responsible for some 416,000 tonnes of aluminium in their ball mill
s, connected to two 500 kW 6 kV motors. Tajikistan’s extensive aluminium processing industry depends entirely on imported ore.
in 1945, known as the Leninabad Mining and Chemical Combine, now Industrial Association "Eastern Combine for Rare Metals" (IA Vostokredmet
), and the centre of the uranium industry in the Tajik SSR until it ceased in 1992.
. Antimony was extracted at Isfara
and Dzhizhikrutskoye (2,000 tonnes in 2000); and arsenic, cadmium, tungsten, and lead-zinc in the Yuzhno-Yangikanskiy deposit, north of the Zeravshan River. Copper
-bismuth
, antimony-mercury, and lead-silver ores are also extracted. Antimony deposits are stated to be the largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) region. Silver deposits have been reported from the northeastern region of Bol'shoy Kanimansur region, which are also considered as one of the largest in the world, apart from being the largest in CIS region.
Rare metals reserves of gallium
, germanium
, indium
, selenium
, tellurium and thallium
have been established; some amount of thallium was mined in the 1990s. Some of the rarer minerals are said to be located in the Zerafshan region. Northern Tajikistan has resources required for construction such as granite
, limestone
, marble
and volcanic tuft. Coal extraction is also reported from Fan-Yagnon and Shurab areas.
Strontium deposits have been established in the southern region of Tajikistan in the Chilkultan and Davgir region and these deposits are in the process of commercial exploitation. Deposits of boron
, sodium chloride
, carbonates, fluorite
, precious and semiprecious stones have also been reported. Among the Central Asian republics, Tajikistan ranks first in lead, zinc, and fluorspar resources.
is produced in the Gissar Valley
and Vakhsh Valley, oil in both the north and south and brown coal is produced at Shurab
in the Leninabad region. Coal exploitation in the country has been a major contributor to the national economy in recent years with output of hard coal increasing by 39% to 31,200 tonnes, and brown coal increasing by 70% to 15,200 tonnes. The bulk of foreign investment into Tajik mining activities derives from companies from Canada
, United States
, United Kingdom
, Korea
, Germany
, Switzerland
, Italy
, Hungary
and Russia, although compared to some of the other Asia
n countries, investment is extremely low due to the proximity of Tajikistan to Afghanistan
and political barriers.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
has rich deposits of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, and antimony
Antimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
. The largest silver deposits are in Sughd Province, where Tajikistan’s largest gold mining operation also is located. Russia’s Norilsk
Norilsk
Norilsk is an industrial city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located between the Yenisei River and the Taymyr Peninsula. Population: It was granted city status in 1953. It is the northernmost city in Siberia and the world's second largest city north of the Arctic Circle...
nickel company has explored a large new silver deposit at Bolshoy Kanimansur. More than 400 mineral deposits of some 70 different minerals have been discovered in Tajikistan, including strontium
Strontium
Strontium is a chemical element with the symbol Sr and the atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. It occurs naturally in the minerals celestine and...
, tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
, molybdenum
Molybdenum
Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...
, bismuth
Bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...
, salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
, fluorspar, and mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
. These minerals have been found suitable for mining. Uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...
, an important mineral in the Soviet era, remains in some quantity but is no longer extracted. The Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO), an aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
smelter, is the country's only large-scale production enterprise in the mining sector. Tajikistan hosts the annual Mining World Tajikistan, an international exhibition on mining in Dushanbe
Dushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...
.
History
The mining industry reached a notable level in the 9th–11th centuries, visible by ancient mining openings and metallurgical operations. These are evident in the Karamazar Mountains' Mansura mine, in the Kondara Ore Gorge, the Koninukra Silver Mine, Pamir, Darvaza, Kukhilal, and the Lyadzhvardara Lazurite Gorge. The archaeologist Mikhail Evgenievich MassonMikhail Evgenievich Masson
Mikhail Evgenievich Masson was an important Uzbekistani archaeologist from Samarkand. He was the founder of the archaeology school in Central Asia and a professor, doctor of historical and archaeological sciences and member of the Turkmen Academy of Sciences.In 1916 he started studies at the...
explored early mining sites in the eastern Tajikistan mountains.
Rare metals were not mined in Tajikistan before the World War II. The output of concentrates of rare metals in 1943, however, exceeded that of 1941 by sixty times, and that of 1942 by ten times.
No copper, molybdenum, tungsten, or zinc has been produced in recent years and mining activity since the 1990s has been severely disrupted due to civil war and political conflict.
Mineral exports contribute substantially to the national economy of Tajikistan. According to the 2008 statistics of the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, aluminium contributed about 50% to the national exchequer, with aluminium and cotton accounting for 9% of the gross domestic product
Gross domestic product
Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....
.
Gold
Gold miningGold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
in Tajikistan is significant to the world mineral market. According to estimates from the Tajik Academy of Sciences
Tajik Academy of Sciences
Tajik Academy of Sciences incorporates 20 research institutes and three territorial groupings: the Pamir Branch in the eastern part of the country , the Khujand Scientific Center in the north, and the Khatlon Scientific Center in the south-west...
, gold deposits are estimated at 429.3 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s. Tajikistan’s largest gold mining operation is located in Sughd Province, with most gold being mined southeast of Gharm, in the Pamir Mountains
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable...
, in the Yakhsu Valley, Chkalovsk
Chkalovsk
Chkalovsk may refer to:*Chkalovsk, Russia, a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia*Chkalovsk, Tajikistan*Kaliningrad Chkalovsk, a naval air base in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia...
, and Jilau. It has taken off since independence from Russia with 2700 kilograms (5,952.5 lb) of gold mined in 2000 compared to 1,100 in 1996. However, the Darvaz
Darvaz
Darvaz , alternatively spelt Darwaz, Darvoz, or Darwoz, was an independent principality until the 19th century, ruled by a mir and its capital was at Kalai-Khumb. The kingdom controlled territory on the left and right banks of the Oxus River. In 1878 Darvaz was invaded by neighboring Bukhara and...
joint venture did exploit the gold from 1997 to 1999, because its equipment was severely damaged by conflict in the region. As of 2011, Tajikistan produces up to 1.3–1.5 tonnes of gold annually, with a significant investment from China, with Zijin Mining
Zijin Mining
Zijin Mining or Zijin is a leading Chinese gold, copper and non-ferrous metals producer and refiner in Mainland China.-Description:Zijin is one of the largest Chinese gold producer in China...
working in the country. In January 2011, according to geologist Azim Ibrokhim, two massive gold deposits were discovered, one in the centre of the country contains 118 tonnes and the other in the north, which is believed to have 59 tonnes of gold.
Aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
smelter, is Tajikistan's only large-scale production enterprise in the mining sector, and runs one of the world's largest aluminium manufacturing plants, located in Tursunzade
Tursunzade
Tursunzoda is a city in western Tajikistan, known for its aluminium smelting plant TadAZ. It is located 60 km west of Dushanbe , near the border with Uzbekistan. It is near several rivers, Shirkent and Karatag immediately to the west and east of the city, and Kofarnihon further east...
, in the country's western area. Its production capacity is reported to be 517,000 t/year (accounting for consumption of 40% of electrical energy generated in the country) and most of it is exported with only about 5000 t/year consumed within the country. As of 2006, the company was responsible for some 416,000 tonnes of aluminium in their ball mill
Ball mill
A ball mill is a type of grinder used to grind materials into extremely fine powder for use in mineral dressing processes, paints, pyrotechnics, and ceramics.-Description:...
s, connected to two 500 kW 6 kV motors. Tajikistan’s extensive aluminium processing industry depends entirely on imported ore.
Uranium
Uranium and graphite was formerly exploited by the Soviets, northeast of Khudzhand, but this industry has now diminished. At its peak, the industry produced approximately 170 tonnes of waste rock annually. The State Enterprise "Eastern Combine for Rare Metals" (SE Vostokredmet) has estimated that Tajikistan still has some 55 tonnes of uranium reserves remaining. Vostokredmet established a plant in ChkalovskChkalovsk
Chkalovsk may refer to:*Chkalovsk, Russia, a town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia*Chkalovsk, Tajikistan*Kaliningrad Chkalovsk, a naval air base in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia...
in 1945, known as the Leninabad Mining and Chemical Combine, now Industrial Association "Eastern Combine for Rare Metals" (IA Vostokredmet
IA Vostokredmet
The Industrial Association Eastern Combine for Rare Metals is an industrial complex in the western part of the Fergana Valley, Tajikistan. It is the country's first raw materials base, incorporating seven mines and five plants....
), and the centre of the uranium industry in the Tajik SSR until it ceased in 1992.
Other
Mercury was mined at the Dzhizhikrutskoye deposit, north of DushanbeDushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...
. Antimony was extracted at Isfara
Isfara
Isfara is a city in Sughd Province in northern Tajikistan, situated on the border with Kyrgyzstan. It has a population of 40,600 . The city is capital of Isfara district.-History:...
and Dzhizhikrutskoye (2,000 tonnes in 2000); and arsenic, cadmium, tungsten, and lead-zinc in the Yuzhno-Yangikanskiy deposit, north of the Zeravshan River. Copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
-bismuth
Bismuth
Bismuth is a chemical element with symbol Bi and atomic number 83. Bismuth, a trivalent poor metal, chemically resembles arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth may occur naturally uncombined, although its sulfide and oxide form important commercial ores. The free element is 86% as dense as lead...
, antimony-mercury, and lead-silver ores are also extracted. Antimony deposits are stated to be the largest in the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
(CIS) region. Silver deposits have been reported from the northeastern region of Bol'shoy Kanimansur region, which are also considered as one of the largest in the world, apart from being the largest in CIS region.
Rare metals reserves of gallium
Gallium
Gallium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium salt in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. A soft silvery metallic poor metal, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies...
, germanium
Germanium
Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors tin and silicon. The isolated element is a semiconductor, with an appearance most similar to elemental silicon....
, indium
Indium
Indium is a chemical element with the symbol In and atomic number 49. This rare, very soft, malleable and easily fusible post-transition metal is chemically similar to gallium and thallium, and shows the intermediate properties between these two...
, selenium
Selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium...
, tellurium and thallium
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...
have been established; some amount of thallium was mined in the 1990s. Some of the rarer minerals are said to be located in the Zerafshan region. Northern Tajikistan has resources required for construction such as granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and volcanic tuft. Coal extraction is also reported from Fan-Yagnon and Shurab areas.
Strontium deposits have been established in the southern region of Tajikistan in the Chilkultan and Davgir region and these deposits are in the process of commercial exploitation. Deposits of boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
, sodium chloride
Sodium chloride
Sodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
, carbonates, fluorite
Fluorite
Fluorite is a halide mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon...
, precious and semiprecious stones have also been reported. Among the Central Asian republics, Tajikistan ranks first in lead, zinc, and fluorspar resources.
Fossil fuels
Natural gasNatural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
is produced in the Gissar Valley
Gissar Valley
Gissar Valley in Tajikistan runs east-west along the southern slopes of Gissar Range and on the northern border of Khatlon Province...
and Vakhsh Valley, oil in both the north and south and brown coal is produced at Shurab
Shurab
Shurab is a town in Isfara district of the Sughd province, Tajikistan. The population was about 4,000 in the early 2000s.The town was established in 1952 in Tajik SSR. In Soviet time it had a population of 8,400 , most people worked in coal-mining industry. There were several factories, Palace of...
in the Leninabad region. Coal exploitation in the country has been a major contributor to the national economy in recent years with output of hard coal increasing by 39% to 31,200 tonnes, and brown coal increasing by 70% to 15,200 tonnes. The bulk of foreign investment into Tajik mining activities derives from companies from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Russia, although compared to some of the other Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n countries, investment is extremely low due to the proximity of Tajikistan to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and political barriers.
Waste management
Heavy metals from mining can be harmful to the environment when left exposed, and failures to manage wastes may cause pollution. Wastes from the Anzob processing plant contain antimony, mercury, and sulfates. Wastes from the Adrasman plant contain cadmium, lead, and zinc. Wastes from the Leninabad rare metals plant contain cobalt, molybdenum, nickel, and tungsten. Wastes from the Takob smelter contain lead and zinc. Mining and heavy industry in the Ferghana Valley have contaminated the soil with toxic heavy metals.External links
- More information from USGS