Zinc metal production, which is by tolling only, fell 20% to 30,000 tonnes in the nine months.

The company hadn’t worked with zinc since December due to low prices and a lack of orders, but the company started up again in August and the combine haven’t had bad results for the last two months," the source said.

AGMK plans to raise copper production to 80,000 tonnes this year, from 71,000 tonnes in 2008, and to keep zinc output level at 60,000 tonnes.

AGMK produces molybdenum besides copper and zinc and is Uzbekistan’s second biggest gold and silver producer. Production figures for these metals are not available.

AGMK, which is based in the Tashkent region, consists of two mining enterprises, two concentrating plants and two metallurgical plants. It mines the Kalmakyr and Sary-Cheku copper-porphyry fields in the Tashkent region itself and the Uch-Kulach lead-zinc-barium field in the Jizzakh region.

Almalyk’s annual output exceeds US$300 million. The plant exports approximately 60% of its metal - 5% of it to the CIS.