Zarafshan is a city of over 65,000 inhabitants in the center of Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....

's Navoiy Province

Navoiy Province

Navoiy Province is a viloyat of Uzbekistan located in the northwest of the country. The Kyzyl-Kum Desert takes up a large portion of its territory, which is the largest of the provinces of Uzbekistan except for the autonomous Karakalpakstan Republic. Navoiy Province borders with Kazakhstan,...

. Located in the Kyzylkum desert, it receives water from the Amudarya by a 220-km pipeline.

Zarafshan is called "the gold capital of Uzbekistan". It is home of the Navoi Mining & Metallurgy Combinat

Navoi Mining & Metallurgy Combinat

NMMC – one of the largest Uzbek companies involved in the mining industry being among the top ten largest uranium and gold producers in the world...

's Central Mining Administration, charged with mining and processing gold from the nearby Muruntau open-pit mine. Between 1995 and 2006 the Muruntau gold mining and processing operation was run by the Zarafshan-Newmont Joint Venture, a foreign direct investment by Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, Colorado (at the time the largest U.S. investor in Uzbekistan). As of 2007, full ownership reverted to Uzbekistan.

Zarafshan Airport

Zarafshan Airport

Zarafshan International Airport is an airport of entry in Zarafshan, Navoiy Province, Uzbekistan.-Airlines and destinations:...

  is served by Uzbekistan Airlines with direct daily flights to and from Tashkent

Tashkent

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...

.