In 2018, the State Geological Service of the Kyrgyz Republic turns 80 years old. Established in 1938 by Decree of the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry of the USSR, the Kyrgyz Geological Administration (KGA) was later called various names. Currently it is, the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Use of the Kyrgyz Republic. Since the organization of KGA, the geological research in the territory of the Republic has taken a large-scale nature.
With only 43 people by 1938, the geological service of the republic gradually turned into a powerful state organization unifying specialists of various professions, ensuring successful solutions to tasks in the study of geology, minerals and the control of rational use of mineral resources.
The first post-war years were characterized by the solution of a new complex task – the creation of a raw material base for the nuclear industry. Until the mid-60s, the discovered uranium was developed by special facilities of the USSR. At the same time, large rare-earth deposits and a number of poly-metallic deposits were discovered and researched.
The 50s – mid 60s – was one of the most important periods of activity of the geological industry of Kyrgyzstan. A geological survey of a scale of 1: 100,000 – 1: 200,000 was systematically made almost throughout the territory of the Republic. A great achievement of this period was the discovery of tin and tungsten deposits. During this period, the foundation for the Kyrgyz geological school was laid, this educated a large group of prominent geologists, industrialists and scientists.
At the end of the 50s, large-scale (1: 25000 -1: 50,000) geological researches and prospecting works began on areas of promising ore deposits. As a result of large-scale prospecting and research works, were identified: deposits of ores and anomalies of gold, rare, non-ferrous and precious metals, highly decorative stones and various building materials.
The 70s and 80s of the last century were very productive for geological explorers of Kyrgyzstan. During this period, large deposits of gold were discovered; many deposits of non-ferrous and rare metals were explored.
Great success was achieved in the field of hydrogeology and engineering geology. The problem of water supply of all large settlements was almost solved. A large group of medical and health facilities began to function at thermal-mineral water areas and there was established a system of groundwater monitoring which studied and predicted hazardous exogenous processes.
At this time, the percentage of geological knowledge of the territory of the Republic was 98.5% on a scale of 1: 200,000 and 82.5% on a scale of 1: 25,000 – 1: 50,000.
In the period 1957-1991 geologists of Kyrgyzstan gave technical assistance in geological exploration in China, Korea, Vietnam, Ghana, Mali, Cuba, Afghanistan, Algeria, Tanzania, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Syria, Madagascar, Iran, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Libya and Yemen.
