WESTERN FIRMS TO HUNT GOLD IN KYRGYZSTAN.

The state company Kyrgyzaltyn (Kyrgyz Gold) and the U.S. mining company Santa Fe Pacific Gold have set up a joint venture to prospect for and extract gold at the high-altitude Solton-Sary site. The cost of the investment project at this stage is valued at $120 million and profits are to be shared equally. This is the second major gold-prospecting and mining venture to be launched by western firms in Kyrgyzstan. Canada’s Cameco company is engaged in a $375 million project to develop the Kumtor gold-mining site and to build a gold ore-processing plant there. Kumtor’s anticipated output is 15 tons of gold annually, starting in 1997. (14)

Tajik Resistance Steps Up Fighting, Regime’s Uzbek Allies Win Concessions.