News

Uzbekistan will expand production of rhenium salts

The Uzbek Industrial Metals Plant and the European University KU Leuven signed an agreement on the introduction of hydrometallurgical technologies to expand the production of rhenium salts.

The Uzbek Technological Metals Plant (TMK) and the Solvomet research group of the KU Leuven University (Belgium) signed a cooperation agreement in Brussels on the introduction of European hydrometallurgical technologies in Uzbekistan. The press service of the plant reported this.

These technologies will be introduced “to expand the production of rhenium salts and extract additional rare and rare earth elements (critical minerals),” the report notes.

KU Leuven is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Europe, founded in 1425. The Solvomet Group laboratory at KU Leuven is considered a world leader in the field of hydrometallurgy and the development of innovative industrial technologies.

In 2021, Uzbekistan completed many years of research and mastered the technology for producing rhenium metal with a purity of 99.9%. This rare metal was obtained from ammonium perrhenate by hydrogen reduction. In June of this year, TMK began exporting rhenium metal to the countries of the European Union.

Source