Loading…
Loading…
The programme is a presidential-directive bundle rather than a single codified law. The presidential press service published the directive on 7 March 2025; the line ministry (Ministry of Mining Industry and Geology, headed by Bobur Islamov) is the implementing agency and has been instructed to:
three years (2025–2027), covering 28 rare-metal elements.
processing → science & technology → finished products" — anchored on two new technology parks in the Tashkent and Samarkand** regions, both areas with established molybdenum/tungsten deposits.
build the domestic skill base required for advanced processing (purity upgrades, refining, alloy/finished-product manufacturing).
partnerships — explicitly framed as positioning Uzbekistan as a competitive supplier in the "fourth industrial revolution".
The headline mineral universe is broad: official press materials name tungsten, molybdenum, magnesium, lithium, germanium, graphite, vanadium, and titanium as headline elements, with "more than 30" metals identified across Uzbek deposits. Tungsten is highlighted as a flagship — the Ingichka deposit is named as a beneficiation example where domestic processing could roughly double value capture vs. concentrate export.
Severity is set at 3 (quant basis) because:
modest in global critical-minerals terms — comparable to the initial Argentina RIGI commitment range, an order of magnitude below the EU CRMA processing-capacity targets or US IRA §45X outlays.
reserves** and is now an emerging player in lithium, REE, and vanadium — material upside if even a fraction of the 76 projects reach production stage.
export ban or processing mandate (unlike Indonesia hilirisasi or Zimbabwe lithium-concentrate export ban). Severity should rise toward 4 if and when this programme converts into export-side controls or domestic-content mandates.
This filing anchors a new geography in the IPTM register. Until now, the EM resource-upstream-capture theme has been dominated by Indonesia (nickel, bauxite, copper, multiple amendments), DRC (cobalt), Chile/Argentina (lithium), and a handful of Africa sovereigns (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania). Central Asia has been represented only by Mongolia's sovereign-wealth-fund law (2024-04-19). Uzbekistan's programme is the first Central-Asia critical-minerals national strategy at scale.
The geopolitical context is structurally important:
critical-minerals supply chains and rare-earth processing was signed at the Critical Minerals Ministerial in Washington on 4 February 2026, with Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov representing Tashkent. Uzbekistan was one of 11 countries joining the US-led "FORGE" critical-minerals framework.
candidate; EU exploratory delegations have visited since 2024.
partner for Uzbek tungsten/molybdenum concentrate exports; the 2025 programme implicitly seeks to dilute that share via upstream value-add in country and Western technology partners.
upstream supply diversification benefit if Uzbek projects scale — multi-year tail rather than near-term volume.
technology providers, refining-IP licensors): Programme explicitly invites foreign technology partnerships; potential contract pipeline 2025–2027.
closely mirrors the EM-upstream-capture template; but unlike Indonesia (where Chinese capital dominated the reaction wave), Uzbekistan's geopolitical posture (US/EU MoUs, post-Karimov outward turn) suggests a more diversified financing mix is likely. Watch flows.
Mining and infrastructure capex pull-through, modest but real.
a Cabinet of Ministers Resolution (PP-) or Presidential Decree (UP-) on lex.uz? The 7 March 2025 press release frames the programme as a presidential directive ("instructed officials") but a numbered legal instrument has not yet surfaced in open-source search. If a PP-/UP- text is later identified, file an amendment with the document number.
has not been published in detail. Subsequent ministerial releases or project-finance announcements (ADB, EBRD, IFC, bilateral) will reveal the actual deal flow.
export taxes or partial export bans on tungsten/lithium concentrate (the Indonesia template)? Watch for Cabinet resolutions through 2026–2027.
is non-binding framing. File a follow-on action when concrete bilateral instruments (DFC financing, off-take guarantees, Section 232-style designations) materialise.