Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan will make a decision by the end of the year on launching joint geological exploration work at precious metal deposits.

Axar.az informs, citing Rеport, Deputy Minister of Mining Industry and Geology of Uzbekistan Ural Yusupov made the statements on the sidelines of the 59th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Samarkand.

"We have begun active joint work with the Azerbaijani company AzerGold on geological exploration in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Currently, documentation is being reviewed. I believe that by the end of the year, we will make a decision on jointly conducting geological exploration work at precious metal deposits (gold and silver). We have also proposed that our partners consider projects for the extraction of critically important metals.

At the current stage, we are studying the potential of precious metal deposits [gold, silver] in the Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions, as well as critical materials in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and Jizzakh region," the deputy minister stated.