Azernews.Az

Narmina Mammadova

Azerbaijan, a country rich in mineral resources, started industrial production of gold in July 2009. About 900 fields were registered in Azerbaijan's state and territorial balance of reserves of mineral resources.

AzerGold CJSC has produced 45,490 ounces of gold and 77,340 ounces of silver in 2018, AzerGold said at the presentation, held with the participation of management and employees of the company.

The processes of mining, refining, reserves of the Chovdar deposit, indicators of gold extraction were discussed at the meeting.

The company noted that the hourly production capacity of the ores crushing and grinding areas has been increased from 100-150 tonnes to 200-250 tonnes as a result of the performed optimization works. Meanwhile, as a result of the application of modern technologies and optimization work, the use of chemical reagents decreased by 20-30 percent, while mining increased by 33 percent compared with the previous year.

During the event, the participants had extensive discussions around further optimization of mining, increasing the operational lifetime of the Chovdar deposit, the work being carried out at the Tullallar and Agyohush sites, production forecasts for 2019 and 2020.

Large-scale geological exploration is being carried out in order to increase the reserves of exploited areas and the commissioning of new fields.

Currently, the drilling of 32 exploration wells with a total depth of 6,000 meters has been completed. It was carried out in order to increase reserves of sulphide ores from the Chovdar deposit of the Dashkesan region.

The information collected in the framework of exploration will be used by international consulting company Micon International in the development of a feasibility study for the project.

The Chovdar deposit is located in northern Dashkasan district, which includes special and complex gold fields.

Starting from June of the current year, based on the obtained positive results, control and assessment drilling operations are being carried out from the potentially promising Agyohush site discovered by geologists of AzerGold.

Geophysical work is undergoing at the Narchal-Agyohush site, located on the far flanks of the Chovdar deposit. On the Kapaz site, located on the territory of the Goygol region, ground geophysical studies will be carried out next year.

In order to conduct joint drilling operations at the Tulallar gold-bearing site located in the Goygol region, an agreement was signed with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and drilling is already underway.

Intensive drilling operations have also been carried out at the gold-bearing and copper-prospective section of Ortakkend-Khanag, located on the territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, since July.

By the end of this year, a preliminary assessment document on the Filizchay polymetallic deposit located in the Balakan region will be prepared by the influential international consulting company “SRK Consulting”. This deposit is of strategic importance not only for Azerbaijan, but also for Europe. At the moment, prospects for the development of nearby fields Mazymchay, Katsdag and others are being considered within the framework of the Filizchay project.

The commissioning of new fields will significantly increase production in the coming years. According to preliminary estimates, only the operation of the Filizchay deposit, as well as the oxide and sulphide phases of the Chovdar deposit, will bring the country's economy more than 10 billion manats in revenue.

AzerGold CJSC started operating in July, 2016 and is engaged in studying, research, investigation, management of deposits of precious and non-ferrous metals, their production, processing and sale, and also application of new technologies in this sphere, improvement of material and technical base and implementation of other work related to the development of this field.

Azerbaijan has its rich gold deposits. Gold mostly is produced in Dashkasan (AzerGold CJSC) and in Gadabay (Anglo-Asian Mining, Britain) regions of the country.

About 900 fields were registered in Azerbaijan’s state and territorial balance of reserves of mineral resources.

The Ministry for Ecology and Natural Recourses estimates that the country is able to produce about 10-15 tons of gold per year.

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