AZERBAIJAN, UZBEKISTAN AMONG OTHERS SHORTLISTED FOR GOLD IMPORT

Financial Express, India
July 18, 2006 Tuesday

With India being the world’s largest gold consumer, the government is
on the look out for larger supply of the yellow metal. The commerce
ministry has shortlisted some former Soviet Union countries –
Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Armenia – besides Venezuela in
South America for the import. "After oil, gold is the second largest
item on our import bill.

So we need to urgently find long-term sources to meet our demand,"
minister of state for commerce, Jairam Ramesh told FE. Azerbaijan
contains gold deposits of about 1,000 tonne, which include reserves
in regions in conflict with neighbouring countries. MMTC and NDMC
have asked Azerbaijan for the geological data on gold deposits there.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan has expressed interest in a joint venture
participation with India in gold mining. During the joint working
group meet with Uzbekistan this March,India had also evinced keen
interest in cooperation in exploration of gold, sources said.India
has asked Uzbekistan to nominate their agency to ink an MoU with
MMTC and MNDC. The government is also waiting for the Uzbek report
on techno-economic details to start the mining project, sources said.

The government will also be opening a dialogue with Kazakhstan, which
has approximately 800 mt of gold reserves. Kazakhstan has small gold
fields containing 25 tonne, and medium fields of 25 to 100 tonne, where
about 70 % of its gold is mined. India is making efforts to obtain a
geological data from Kazakhstan in this regard. Gold would figure in
the agenda during the Indo-Armenia joint trade committee meet this
October. The government is keen on striking deals with Venezuela,
which has gold reserves estimated to be over 8,000 tonne. Of this
5,000 tonne are at the surface level and is suitable for open cut
mining. The chairman of MMTC and a government representative had called
on Venezuelan foreign minister during his recent visit to India to
discuss possible cooperation in the gold sector. Following this, MMTC
forwarded a proposal to Venezuela for joint venture in the gold sector.