British mining company changes forecast on Azerbaijan's precious metals production in 2020

25 November 2020 15:24 (UTC+04:00)

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By Ayya Lmahamad

The British company Anglo Asian Mining, the operator on the development of gold deposits in Azerbaijan, has reduced its forecast for 2020 on the production of precious metals to 68,000-72,000 ounces of gold equivalent, the company has reported.

It was noted that this reduction is mainly due to some delays in underground development, resulting from the conscription of some engineering staff, together with a slowdown in tunnelling progress due to underground rock faulting.

Moreover, the company confirmed that it is still on track to achieve a turnover in 2020 of over $100 million.

Earlier it was reported that Anglo-Asian Mining company, which is engaged in gold, silver and copper mining in Azerbaijan, reevaluated the mineral resources and ore reserves of Gadabay and Gadir deposits. Thus, the volume of revised total mineral resources of Gadabay deposit is 735,000 ounces of gold and 69,100 tons of copper. Ore resources of this mine are 284,000 ounces of gold and 26,000 tons of copper. In the meantime, the volume of confirmed mineral resources of Gadir deposit is 267,000 ounces of gold and 2,183 tons of copper. Ore reserves of this deposit are 49,000 ounces of gold and 191,000 tons of copper.

Moreover, revenues of the company from the gold mining operations in Azerbaijan increased by 5.8 percent, during the first half of 2020, amounting to $45.8 million.

It should be noted that for the last nine months of the year, gold has firmly established its position among the top three main export products of the non-oil sector of the country

Gold mining in Azerbaijan is currently carried out by two companies - AzerGold CJSC, which owns 51 percent in Azerbaijan’s gold share, and Anglo Asian Mining PLC, with 49 percent of shares. PSA type contract was signed on August 21, 1997 and envisages development of six fields.

Extraction of the first gold in Azerbaijan started in 2009, and silver in 2010.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad