Zarafshan
Zarafshan is a city of over 68,000 inhabitants in the center of Uzbekistan's Navoiy Region. Located in the Kyzylkum desert, it receives water from the Amudarya by a 220-km pipeline.
Zarafshan is called . It is home of the Navoi Mining & Metallurgy Combinat's Central Mining Administration, charged with mining and processing gold from the nearby Muruntau open-pit mine. Between 1995 and 2006 the Muruntau gold mining and processing operation was run by the , a foreign direct investment by Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, Colorado. Uzbekistan expropriated the company's assets in 2006 and by 2007 had taken full ownership of the mine.
Zarafshan Airport is served by Uzbekistan Airlines with direct daily flights to and from Tashkent.
