DUSHANBE, July 6, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The State Unitary Enterprise Chamast (Amethyst) is ready to begin to develop the ruby mine Snezhny in Murgab district, Gorno Badakhshan as soon as it gets permit from the national commission for reserves at the Main Geology Directorate under the Government of Tajikistan, the Chamast director Donaboy Toshayev said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, the Snezhny mine has possible ruby reserves of 52,000 carats.  “All necessary documents have been submitted to the national commission and after defense, the enterprise is ready to begin to develop this mine,” said Toshayev, “The point is that our enterprise has not been engaged in development of the Snezhny mine since 2008.  We have suspended work in order to defend new reserves.  After this procedure, we will begin to develop these reserves.”

During his recent visit to Gorno Badakhshan President Rahmon criticized the work of Chamast enterprise, noting that quality and level of processing of precious and semi-precious stones did not meet requirements of market.

In the meantime, Toshayev considers that wrong report has been prepared for the president.  “I am currently preparing refutation,” the Chamast top manager noted.  He added that Chamast had purchased equipment for 400,000 somoni in China and equipped three workshops for processing precious and semi-precious stones in Gorno Badakhshan.  “Unfortunately, the workshops stand idle because of lack of specialists,” said Toshayev, “However, the most important problem is lack of proper financing of the sector.  This year, the budget has allocated only 440,000 somoni for development of our sector.”

Besides, there are cases of smuggling of precious stones, he noted.  “As soon as we complete work in the summer period, local residents or smugglers come to the mines.  It is not yet clear how many precious stones have been smuggled by this way out of the country.  This summer, we have not started work because of lack of finance.”

The ruby mine Snezhny, which means “snowy”, was reportedly discovered during the 1980s.  The mine is located at Turakuloma, some 40 kilometers northwest of the settlement of Murgab, the administrative center of the Murgab district, at some 4,500 meters above sea level, in a mineralized zone of marbles.

Chamast is the only enterprise in Tajikistan that specializes in mining and processing precious stones.  Founded at the Ministry of Geology of Tajik SSR in 1939, the enterprise is engaged in exploring, mining and processing precious and semi-precious stones.