Azerbaijan increases gold reserves by 17 pct
By Nigar Orujova
The central banks of developing countries including Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan and Russia increased their gold reserves in September, a
report by Dow Jones shows said citing data from the International
Monetary Fund.
Azerbaijan increased its official gold reserves for the second
consecutive month, the report noted. The Central Bank of Azerbaijan
increased its reserves by 17.4 percent, bringing them up to 868.321
ounces.
"The central banks of developing countries have increased their
gold reserves over the past few years amid uncertain prospects of
the reserve currencies such as the dollar and the euro," the report
said.
Russia, which is one of the largest holders of precious metals in
the world, increased its reserves by 1.2 million ounces, according
to the IMF. The Central Bank of Russia, which buys gold from the
domestic gold producing industry, currently has reserves of 37
million ounces of gold.
Kazakhstan, adding 68,000 ounces to its reserves in September,
brought them up to the amount of 5.9 million ounces.
"At the same time, countries like the Czech Republic and Mexico
reduced their reserves," the report said.
Earlier, Anglo Asian Mining plc, a company involved in the extraction of precious metals in Azerbaijan, revealed plans to become the most leading precious metals and copper producer in the Caucasus.
AAM has 75 tons of dry copper concentrate and 550 tons of wet copper concentrate stockpiles to sell.
The company has the right to develop six deposits in the south-west of Azerbaijan - Gadabay, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gyzyl Bulag, Vezhnali, and Soyutlu- under a production sharing agreement signed in August 1997 with Azerbaijan's government.
The resource base of the company exceeds 36 tons of gold, 292 tons of silver and 94.000 tons of copper.
The gold produced at the mines is sent for treatment to
Switzerland. The ingots are brought to Azerbaijan and stored on the
government's account.
Overall, Anglo Asian's production in the nine months of the year
reached 43,232 ounces of gold, 27,419 ounces of silver and 580 tons
of copper.