Application of innovative technologies for increasing gold production in Kyzylkum province of Uzbekistan

The Kyzylkum province in Southern Tien Shan, Uzbekistan, which includes the world's largest gold deposit Muruntau, is among the world's major gold provinces. Analysis of all available geological and geophysical data has revealed ten linear trends controlled by regional strike-slip shear zones in the ore-bearing sand-shale sediments O₂-S₁. Analogies were made with gold trends in North-Eastern Nevada (Carlin trend and others). Gold is present predominantly as microinclusions in pyrite and arsenopyrite in both provinces. A significant part of inclusions is represented by invisible nano-sized gold particles.

Opportunities of increasing gold output in the Kyzylkum province are connected with the reduction of losses of "invisible" gold in the process of ore concentration and processing. Innovative technologies and modern laboratory equipment were used to determine nano-sized gold concentration. Another source of increasing gold production is exploration and development of ore-controlling structures overlapped by younger sediments. Remote sensing methods are widely used to identify promising parts of the structures.