North Kanimekh is one of the most significant uranium industry sites to have been commissioned in Uzbekistan in recent years. The first stage of the mine cost approximately US$34 million, which Navoi funded itself. Drilling and well construction began in the middle of 2007. The first stage is expected to achieve full capacity by 2012.

Navoi produced 2,350 tonnes of uranium in 2007, up slightly from 2,301 tonnes in 2006. It plans to invest US$165 million in development in the period 2007-2012 with a view to boosting uranium production and exports 50% compared with 2006.

Navoi is Uzbekistan’s uranium monopoly. It controls three mining divisions that produce uranium by the in-situ leach (ISL) method and processes the ore at the No.1 hydrometallurgical plant in the city of Navoi.

Navoi produced 3,000-3,500 tonnes of low-enriched uranium per year in the mid-1980s. Production fell as low as 1,700 tonnes in 1996, when the situation in the world uranium market deteriorated. Navoi is still technically capable of producing more than 3,000 tonnes per year.

The Uzbek State Geology Committee has said 27 uranium deposits in the Central Kyzyl Kum, with an estimated 55,000 tonnes of uranium, form the core of the country’s uranium mining industry. Uzbekistan has the world’s seventh biggest uranium reserves.