Uzbekistán desarrolla materiales raros con métodos de extracción más ecológicos

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Uzbekistán desarrolla materiales raros con métodos de extracción más ecológicos

Uzbekistán está incrementando sus exportaciones mineras, incluido el uranio, para satisfacer la demanda mundial de materiales raros.

En colaboración con Agency of Information and Mass Communications of Uzbekistan

MÁS INFORMACIÓN : http://es.euronews.com/2025/07/22/uzbekistan-desarrolla-materiales-raros-con-metodos-de-extraccion-mas-ecologicos

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00:00Gold, silver, copper, uranium. Uzbekistan is blessed with abundant natural resources.

00:10Critical to digital and green energy transitions, the country is expanding mining and exports.

00:17How can it be done sustainably and how does Europe stand to benefit?

00:24Hello and welcome to the programme.

00:27Right now Uzbekistan is exploring or developing 487 mineral deposits with foreign investors

00:36involved in 27 projects being implemented this year. By 2030, annual exports of mining products

00:44will be worth 2.3 billion euros, including uranium used for nuclear energy, which last year made up

00:53730 million euros of exports. We've been to a new uranium project to find out more.

01:01Deep in the desert of Uzbekistan's Novoi region, rich reserves of uranium lie hidden in the ground.

01:14Valuable resources that are being tapped by a joint French-Uzbek venture.

01:21We have two licenses, Sars-Gengeldi, North-Gengeldi. Sars-Gengeldi is ready for production.

01:27North-Gengeldi, you can see here, is under exploration. It will come as well to production within a few years.

01:34Exploration means drilling and probing and then extracting cylindrical shaped samples or cores

01:45to isolate the uranium.

01:47It's difficult to see because uranium is very small. After we take the sampling, we will send to the laboratory.

01:56If we found it's a good result, it's good for our team and our company.

02:01At least 10,000 tonnes of uranium is expected to be extracted as part of the overall project.

02:12And it will be mined using a special technique called in-situ leaching.

02:17In-situ leaching is one of the environmental-friendly methods because it does not require open pits.

02:26We use wells and we pour into the ore-body acidic or alkaline solutions, which dissolve uranium,

02:36and then they are brought back to the surface and then processed.

02:43Uzbekistan's Novoi Uran, a state-owned mining enterprise,

02:47is working with the French company, Arano, as part of the joint venture.

02:53There's also a Japanese partner, the Ototiu Corporation, which has a minority stake in the project.

03:02Uzbekistan is one of the major players in uranium. They are a huge producer of uranium worldwide.

03:07They produce uranium for more than 60 years, so it is an important country in uranium production.

03:13It was interesting for Arano to come and to join this country.

03:17The idea is to stay on the long term in Uzbekistan to develop this partnership.

03:22Global demand for green energy is increasing and Uzbekistan is well positioned as a reliable partner.

03:29We believe that the international best practices which we apply in geology up to the final production,

03:36they comply with the demands of investors and we hope that there will be more investors

03:45which are interested in this uranium production.

03:54Let's speak now to Roman Balkulchuk from the Norwegian Institute of International Relations, who's in Oslo.

04:00How do you think Uzbekistan can sustainably develop this sector?

04:04I know that the government is currently building partnerships with different international organizations

04:09with respect to adopting high environmental standards.

04:13We know how widespread is the use of the OECD standards when it comes to due diligence

04:18and also safety standards in mining and processing of critical materials.

04:23What do you think it all means for Europe's green energy transition?

04:26We know that, well, for the EU, for its grid deal plans,

04:30the supply of critical materials from Uzbekistan can be very important

04:33because those metals and minerals are used in the production of solar panels, wind turbines,

04:38storage facilities, batteries, also electric cars.

04:42So I believe that partnership would be quite beneficial for both sides.

04:45Roman, thank you for joining us.

04:47Well, that's all we have time for in this edition.

04:50But there's more business news at Euronews.com.

04:53Thanks for watching and bye for now.

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