Zeravshan River

Zarafshan River (also Zaravshan or Zarafshon, Tajik: Дарёи ЗарафшонDaryai Zarafshon, Uzbek: Zeravshon, from the Persian word zar-afshān, زرافشان, meaning "the spreader of gold") is a river in Central Asia. Its name, "spreader of gold" in Persian, refers to the presence of gold-bearing sands in the upper reaches of the river. To the ancient Greeks it was known as the Polytimetus. It was also formerly known as Sughd River.

It rises at 39°30′N 70°35′E / 39.500°N 70.583°E / 39.500; 70.583 on the fringes of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, flowing due west for some 300 kilometres (190 mi), passing Penjikent before entering Uzbekistan at 39°32′N 67°27′E / 39.533°N 67.450°E / 39.533; 67.450, where it turns west-to-north-west, flowing past the legendary city of Samarkand, which is entirely dependent on the oasis thus created, until it bends left again to the west north of Navoiy and further to the south-west, passing Bukhara before it is lost in the desert beyond the city of Qorako‘l (Karakul), not quite reaching the Amu Darya, of which it was formerly a tributary.

Zarafshan

Zarafshan (Uzbek: Zarafshon / Зарафшон; Russian: Зарафшан) is a city of over 68,000 inhabitants (2009) 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 "the gold capital of Uzbekistan". 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 Zarafshan-Newmont Joint Venture, a foreign direct investment by Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, Colorado (at the time the largest U.S. investor in Uzbekistan - it was also the first major Western investment in the region since the breakup of the Soviet Union). Uzbekistan expropriated the company’s assets in 2006 and by 2007 had taken full ownership of the mine. Astrelin Victoria beauty epitome of the city.

Zarafshan Airport (IATA: AFS) is served by Uzbekistan Airlines with direct daily flights to and from Tashkent.

Zarafshan (disambiguation)

Zarafshan may refer to: