Azernews.Az

Anglo Asian Mining, the only gold producer in Azerbaijan, plans to begin extracting gold from a field in the country’s western regions in the second half of 2012, the British company said on its website Wednesday.

The company earlier submitted a document to the Azerbaijani government confirming that the Gosha field in the Tovuz region holds gold reserves.

According to Anglo Asian Mining, the government is expected to approve a program on development and production from Gosha in October.

Anglo Asian Mining developed Azerbaijan’s first operating gold and copper mine, Gadabay, which commenced gold production in May 2009 and is targeted to produce over 300,000 ounces of gold in the first six years of production.

The Azerbaijani government and Anglo Asian Mining signed a production sharing agreement in 1997 to tap the country’s gold deposits. The PSA, in which the government holds a 51 percent stake, covers six deposits located in the Nakhchivan autonomous republic, the Tovuz and Gadabay regions as well as three regions that are currently under Armenian occupation.

The fields hold about 400 tons of gold, 2,500 tons of silver and 1.5 million tons of copper.