The largest gold producer you’ve never heard of is growing 

Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Co., the world’s fourth-largest gold company by output, plans to start another mine in its Uzbekistani homeland this year while intending to go public eventually with a stock market listing in the West.  

Eugene Antonov, deputy CEO and chief transformation officer of the state-owned company, said he met with Canadian banks and TSX officials during Navoi’s first visit to the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s annual conference in Toronto this month.  

“It was a great success because we had lots of interest,” Antonov told The Northern Miner in an interview as PDAC wound down on Mar. 8. “They were raising their eyebrows after they found out how big a company we are, when so little is known about us.”

The company, which plans to change its name to Navoi Gold, produced 2.8 million oz. of the yellow metal in 2021, with earnings of US$4.8 billion, making it the country’s largest earner by revenue. Navoi is headquartered in the namesake city in east-central Uzbekistan. 

Now, the miner is undergoing widespread modernization with US$1.2 billion in loans from J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Société Générale and Deutsche Bank while targeting annual output of 3 million oz. by 2026. It plans to start mining during the third quarter 100 km northeast of Navoi at the Pistali deposit, discovered four years ago, adding 150,000 oz. a year to production.