Work has begun in the Kyrgyz Republic to overcome the legacy of uranium mining in Central Asia with a groundbreaking ceremony in Shekaftar, a former industrial centre during the Soviet period near the border with Uzbekistan.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said intense project preparations continued in recent months to prepare for the start of construction work, despite global disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic
The first remediation work will focus on the closure of six shafts in Shekaftar and the relocation of five waste-rock dumps to an existing dump at a more remote location. Once a thriving community based on uranium mining, today Shekaftar has an unemployment rate of 70%.
…