Nine deposits of coal, sand, stone and gypsum have been put up for auction in the Osh Region

The Kyrgyz Geological Service has announced auctions for the granting of licences to exploit mineral resources at nine sites in the Osh Region. The sites up for auction include deposits of brown coal, construction sand, quartz sand, stone and gypsum. The total starting price for all lots is $33,000.

The most expensive lot is the Sary-Mogol West coal site in the Chon-Alai district. Its starting price has been set at $14,108.

Three further sites are earmarked for geological exploration for brown coal. These are the Airak-Tazhy site in the Kara-Sui district, with a starting price of $1,410, and the Kyzyl-Too 1 and Kyzyl-Too 2 sites in the Nookat district, valued at $3,938 and $4,214 respectively.

In addition to the coal blocks, the following are being put up for auction:

• the Kurshab construction sand block in the Uzgen district — $5,362;
• the Kyzylbel quartz sand site in the Alai District — $1,775;
• the Charbak East and Charbak West construction stone sites in the Aravan District — $800 and $830;
• the Shorsai gypsum site in the Nookat District — $563.

All nine sites have not previously been explored and require geological exploration work to be carried out. In other words, the successful bidders will be granted the right to carry out geological exploration of the subsoil, rather than the right to commercially extract minerals.

The auctions will take place from 28 to 30 December at the district state administration buildings in the locations where the sites are situated.