Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 27 April 2020, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a meeting on the analysis of ongoing work and next tasks in geology.

Over the past three years, important decisions have been made on a radical reform of this sphere, budget allocations have tripled. A third of the equipment was updated, more than 850 advanced technologies were introduced.

As a result, it became possible to carry out exploration work on 17 types of minerals, while previously they were carried out on 3 types. The number of elements detected in the ore composition reached 40 with the previous twelve. In 2019, the first modern airborne geophysical complex in Central Asia was launched, innovative methods for the study of mineral resources were introduced.

In addition, the application was launched at the initial stage of geological work of the Global-Mapper, Erdas, ENVI programs widely used in the world, based on modern geographic information technologies, as well as high-resolution satellite images from Landsat, Aster satellites. These methods make it possible to obtain with high accuracy information about deep-seated layers and to cover vast areas with research. Most importantly, it saves time and money.

The monitoring and maintenance of the groundwater cadastre have been improved. Devices for automatic remote measurement of groundwater parameters were installed in 250 observation wells.

This year, 1.6 trillion soums were allocated for geological exploration in order to consistently continue reforms in the field.

At today’s meeting, issues of expanding geological exploration, attracting foreign investment in the field were considered.

The necessity of increasing the resources of gold and silver, reserves of copper and 8 types of non-metallic mineral resources by the end of the year was emphasized. To do this, continue the process of updating the technical base. For example, through the use of modern equipment, it is possible to increase the drilling depth from 800 meters to 1200, as well as increase productivity by 1.7 times.

In this regard, it was instructed to ensure the modernization of 385 units of geophysical, drilling, mining and laboratory equipment this year. The task was set to explore 16 promising hydrocarbon sites by the end of the year and confirm the volume of reserves in 23 new fields.

During the discussion of the issue of increasing the investment attractiveness of the sphere, the head of state pointed out the need to implement international standards. The importance of training geologists in the preparation of data according to JORC standards, with the involvement of foreign specialists, was noted.

Instructions are given on attracting investors to 20 fields ready for development and preparing investment projects for other promising sites.

Geology plays an important role in finding water for agricultural land. Special equipment for water well construction will be delivered to each district.

At the meeting, it was entrusted to drill 70 wells in two months to provide water for 3 thousand hectares of land. This year, the need was stressed for introducing an online monitoring system for water flow in 200 new wells and water level in 400 wells, as well as creating an interactive groundwater map.

In the development of geology, the role of fundamental, innovative and applied research is important. In this regard, the tasks of geological exploration by the end of the year of 2,500 square kilometers of land from satellite images and 5,000 square kilometers of the airborne geophysical method were identified.

In his Message to the Oliy Majlis on 24 January and at a meeting with scientists on 31 January, the head of state identified a number of promising tasks for the development of scientific potential in the field of geology.

In accordance with them, the University of Geological Sciences is organized, the curriculum of which is being developed on the basis of the best practices of St. Petersburg Mining University and other foreign universities.

At today’s meeting, instructions were given to create a Geological Museum at the newly created university, to organize the museum’s activities in close connection with the educational process.

Responsible persons reported on the work carried out in the field and plans for the execution of new orders.