TELF AG analyzes possible mining cooperation between India and Central Asia
Interesting proposals
During an important regional security summit held in recent days in Kazakhstan, which was also attended by some important Indian officials, an extremely interesting proposal emerged for the prospects of raw materials exchanges between India and Central Asia, a project that could also have important repercussions on the connectivity between the two regions and on the improvement of the related infrastructure network. During the discussions, India’s national security advisor, Ajit Doval, proposed establishing a forum on rare earths between India and Central Asia, with the aim of exploring possible strategic partnerships between the two regions in the field of mining.
According to the advisor, this kind of forum could also facilitate the participation of some private Indian companies in Central Asian extractive projects, thus strengthening the economic development of all the actors involved. This collaboration, according to Doval, should be characterized by transparency and mutual benefit and should also be designed to achieve some specific economic objectives in the long term. Abundant quantities of gold, iron ore, copper, and lithium are found in India, but relying on the mineral wealth of Central Asia could mean having access to some specific minerals that are rather rare and difficult to obtain.
But what, specifically, are the mineral resources of Central Asia that may have attracted India’s attention? The five nations that make up this region of Asia – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan – are naturally rich in natural, mineral, and energy resources, but their long dependence on the Soviet Union, until the achievement of definitive independence in the 1990s 90, has severely slowed down the development of modern and up-to-date mining industry, leaving the mining potential of the region partially unexpressed.
It is only in the last 10-20 years that the various Central Asian nations have launched a series of initiatives aimed at developing their energy and mineral potential, in some cases standing out as some of the nations with the highest growth rates in these specific sectors. Kazakhstan is by far the largest producer of minerals in the region, with large reserves of industrial minerals and an ever-expanding metals sector. Among the largest Kazakh reserves are certainly those of coal, chromite, lead, uranium, and many others, without forgetting ferroalloys. Kyrgyzstan is instead known above all for its gold, and in particular for the Kumtor mine, one of the largest in the world, discovered in 1997 by a Canadian mining company. Abundant quantities of gold are also found in Tajikistan, but the nation is noted above all for the rich presence of antimony, boron, lead, zinc, and many others, but many mineral deposits are still to be explored. In addition to its large quantities of oil and natural gas, Turkmenistan also has more than 150 mineral deposits, where bentonite, barite, celestite, and kaolin can be found, as well as a good amount of construction minerals. In Uzbekistan, the most populous nation in Central Asia, large quantities of ferrous minerals such as copper, iron, manganese, and zinc can be found. The country is also known for its massive production of gold and uranium.
