Gold

The main goldfield of the country is concentrated in the Northern, Central areas of Tajikistan and Southern Pamir. The explored reserves are concentrated in the gold-quartz deposits of the Dzhilau - Taror and Turkestan-Chorin ore zones of Central Tajikistan, as well as the gold-quartz and gold-sulfide objects of Karamazar. In total, more than 150 gold deposits have been identified in the country and most of them are underexplored. The most significant gold deposit Taror is located 44 km far from the city of Penjikent. Mineralization at the deposit is localized in the skarnification and silicification zone developed at the contact of granitoids with limestones. The zone has the form of a sheet-like deposit. The main minerals in the ore are gold, silver, copper, associated - bismuth, selenium and tellurium. The Jilau silica gold stockwork is located 10 km far from the Taror deposit.

The stockwork is located in the granitoids that make up the core of the brachiofold. Gold-quartz ores contain no more than 1.8% sulphides. In the same region, during the exploration work, dozens of gold ore were revealed, most of which were scheduled for further exploration.

Several smaller deposits of gold (Aprelevka, Burgunda, Ikkizhelon, etc.) have been identified and studied within the Karamazar ore field.

In addition, recent geological exploration work in the ores of the Dzhizhikrutsk antimony-mercury deposit and Chokadambulak iron-bismuth deposit the gold mineralization in industrial concentration was revealed.

In Central Tajikistan, near the Anzob ore mining and processing enterprise, the Chore and Eastern Duoba gold deposits have been explored, the mineralization of which, as in the Taror deposit, is represented by primary low-sulfide gold-arsenic ores. The main minerals are gold-bearing arsenopyrite and pyrite, associated silver and sulfur, harmful arsenic, antimony, and carbonaceous matter. In the Soviet period, it was planned to build another gold mining enterprise on the basis of these objects. In the same region, during exploration work, dozens of gold ore occurrences were revealed, the most interesting of which are included in the plan for further exploration work.

The Pokrud gold deposit is located in the southern part of Gissar, 107 km far from the city of Dushanbe. The geological structure of the deposit includes green sericite-chlorite-quartz schists of the Upper Ordovic.

Shales near fracture are intensely albitized, silicified, and sulfidized. Ore zones are traced by wells to a depth of 220-540 m. Ore minerals are pyrite and arsenopyrite. Gold is mostly found in disembodied form.

To develop gold deposits Taror - Dzhilau in the valley of the Zeravshan River, in the late 90s, a gold ore plant was built with an estimated capacity of about 2 tons.

The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan has adopted the Program for the Accelerated Development of the Gold and Silver Mining Industry, which is aimed at a sharp increase in the production of precious metals in the Republic of Tajikistan. It is planned to involve in the production of new gold ore objects in the Zeravshan Valley, as well as to carry out detailed geological exploration with the calculation of reserves of the gold ore and full-field deposits in the North and South of the country. The implementation of the planned activities should bring the annual gold production in Tajikistan to 10 tons.

 According to the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, 40 gold deposits are currently known in the territory of the country with a total amount of about 500 tons. The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan has adopted a program for the rapid development of the gold mining industry, which is aimed to facilitate the extraction and production of precious metals in the country. According to the program it is expected to produce 10 tons of gold annually.

According to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Tajikistan, in 2019, the country produced 8.1 tons of gold, which is 26% more than in 2018. Extraction and processing of gold is carried out at 26 deposits of the country (data from the State Fund for Geological Information on the Subsoil of Tajikistan). If in 1991 there were four industrial enterprises working in the industry, today their number has reached 29.

There about ten relatively large gold-mining enterprises, including LLC JV “Zarafshon”, LLC “Aprelevka”, SOE “Tilloi Tojik”, LLC “Odina”, LLC “Pakrut”, LLC “Naziri” and etc.

The largest gold mining enterprises are the Tajik-Chinese joint venture (JV) Zarafshon (70% of production), Pakrut (14%), SOE Tilloi Tojik (8%), the Tajik-Canadian joint venture Aprelevka (5%). The amount of the production of the rest enterprises is 3% in total. The products of the enterprises "Zarafshon", "Pakrut" and "Rare Metals Plant" comply with the state standards, according to which the share of gold bullion bar is 99.99%.   

Almost all of the mined gold is purchased by the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT). Producers can sell their products to others only if the government refuses to buy. It is aimed to create gold reserves and maintain the national currency.