DUSHANBE (Asia-Plus) — Chinese companies are continuing to get access to Tajikistan’s mining sector. The Tajik authorities have reportedly granted a Chinese company license to develop a silver deposit located in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).

Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, locally known as Radio Ozodi, reports that the Tajik Government, represented by the State Committee on Investment and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest), and China’s Kashgar Xinyu Dadi Mining Investment signed an investment agreement on development of the Akjlga silver deposit situated in GBAO’s Murgab district on June 14 in Kulob on the sidelines of an international investment forum.

In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, senior representatives of the Main Geology Directorate under the Government of Tajikistan noted on July 12, 2016 that the State Reserve Commission has estimated the Akjilga deposit’s possible reserves of silver at 204.92 tons. According to experts, one ton of the Akjilga deposit’s ore contains 640 grams of silver.

Under the S1 category, the reserves of Akjilga deposit are estimated at 113.14 tons and one ton of its ore contains 791 grams of silver, while under the S2 category, the reserves of the Akjilga deposit are estimated at 93.34 tons and one ton of its ore contain 488 grams of silver.

The Akjilga deposit was previously being explored by Kazakhstan-based C.A. Minerals.

Citing Tajik government sources, Eurasianet says the grant appears to relate to the stalled project to build a new parliament and government complex in Dushanbe at a cost of an estimated $350 mln.

Experts attribute almost monopoly position of China in Tajikistan’s mining sector to despair and lack of other investors. At the same time, they do not exclude risks that may occur in the future.