KHUJAND, September 10, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Open joint-tock company (OJSC) Ore Refinery Adrasman intends to purchase $1.5 million worth of mining equipment to improve its production capacities.  

            Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the Adrasman director general Barot Karimov said that they intend to purchase six 25-ton dumper trucks, 20-ton truck crane as well as a number of ground and underground loaders from China.  “One of Russian companies will deliver drilling machines and some other mining equipment,” said Karimov, “Besides, we will purchase a belt loader from Belarus.”  

            According to him, US$1.5 million will be spent for purchasing the mentioned machines and equipment that will be delivered to the country before the end of this year. 

“The new equipment will allow doubling production of ore,” the director general said, noting that they intend to produce some 300 tons of concentrates by the end of September.  

The Adrasman ore refinery was purchased by Kazakhstan’s KazInvest-Mineral in July 2006 for 11 million somonis.  Established in 1967, the Adrasman ore refinery is engaged in mining and processing of lead ore for producing led-silver concentrate.  The plant’s rated capacity is more than 650,000 tons of ore a year. 

Under an agreement concluded between KazInvest-Mineral, which assumed the 100 percent ownership interest in the or refinery, and Kazakh company North Time this year, 74 percent of shares in the ore refinery were transferred to North Time.