Silver, copper production jump last year
By Sara Israfilbayova
Azerbaijan, which has rich oil and gas deposits, is also well-known for its deposits of other natural recourses, as gold and silver.
Gold mostly is mined in Dashkasan (AzerGold CJSC) and in Gadabay (Anglo-Asian Mining, Britain) regions of the country.
The British company Anglo-Asian Mining PLC, specializing in the extraction of gold, silver and copper, produced 71,461 ounces of gold on the territory of the Gadabay region in 2017.
Total production volume in the first quarter of last year was 14,577 ounces, in the second quarter-15,985 ounces, in the third quarter-17,714 ounces, and in the fourth quarter-23,185 ounces of gold.
The company reported that a sharp increase in production in the fourth quarter is due to the start of production at the Ugur field in September. Production in 2017 decreased by 1.17 percent compared to 2016 (72,304 ounces).
Last year there was an increase in copper and silver production and a slight decrease in gold production. Thus, 1,991 tons of copper (2.6 percent increase), 172,853 ounces of silver (4.7 percent increase) and 59,617 ounces of gold (8.8 percent decrease) were produced.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC is a company with a portfolio of gold, copper and silver production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC has the right to develop six fields in south-west of Azerbaijan: Gadabay, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu, in accordance with the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed between RV Investment Group Services and the government of Azerbaijan.
The share of Azerbaijan in the contract is 51 percent, of the Anglo Asian Mining Plc. – 49 percent.
As a whole, it is planned to extract 400 tons of gold from these six deposits, in accordance with the contract.
The Group has a 1,926 square kilometre portfolio of gold, silver and copper properties at various stages of the development cycle. These include Anglo Asian’s open pit and underground Gadir mine and the Ugur deposit under development at Gadabay, the Gosha mine which is located 50km from Gadabay and Ordubad, the Group’s early stage gold and copper exploration project.
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