Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Feb.3 /Trend D.Azizov/
The State Joint-Stock Company (SJSC) Uzbekenergo plans to construct a plant on the synthesis of an alternative diesel fuel from brown coal potentially worth $641 million in 2012-2015, a company representative told Trend on Friday.
The source said the plant, with a design capacity of 700.000 tons of brown coal, is part of bringing the annual coal production to 1.85 million tons and will be built on a seam at the Apartak Angren brown coal deposit in the Tashkent region.
SJSC Uzbekenergo plans to attract a foreign partner to the join implementation of the project, said the source.
The company is negotiating with South Africa's Clean Coal Technology, German firm Alphakat Avermann, Caterpillar and Takraf about working in the project.
Uzbekistan has proven coal reserves totalling 1.9 billion tons, including the brown coal, 1.85 billion tons and black coal, 47 million tons.
Conitngency resources amount to over 5.7 billion tons of coal. Large coal reserves are concentrated in the southern regions of the country, in Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya..
Currently, coal mining is conducted in three fields, Angren brown coal deposit and Shargun and Baisun black coal deposits.
Uzbekistan produces more than three million tons of coal annually. According to official statistics, coal production increased by 5.9 per cent, up to 3.844 million tons in 2011.
The electricity sector is the main consumer of coal, more than 85 per cent of the total coal consumption.