Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 21
By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:
Since April 2017, the beginning of the export of non-ferrous metals, Azerbaijan’s AzerGold CJSC has sold non-ferrous metals worth more than 220 million manats, Zakir Ibrahimov, chairman of the board of AzerGold CJSC, told Trend.
He noted that this year, significant increase was observed in gold mining.
“For the first ten months of 2018, the gold production amounted to 36,632 ounces,” he said. “In general, the AzerGold CJSC is planning to extract and export 45,000 ounces of gold by the end of this year, which is 33 percent more than similar indicators for last year. We also plan to export more than 70,000 ounces of silver by the end of this year.”
He noted that production is being carried out on the basis of the Chovdar deposit in the Dashkesan district.
“The preparation is underway for the development of four deposits in Azerbaijan,” he added. “These are large, polymetallic deposits of various sizes, located in the Balakan, Dashkesan districts and in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. In the next few years, all these deposits will be launched, and this will bring revenues worth tens of billions of manats to Azerbaijan, and will also make it possible to significantly increase production in the coming years.”
AzerGold CJSC is carrying out large-scale geological prospecting work in order to commission new deposits.
Thus, the check and appraisal drilling operations have been carried out starting from June of the current year, on the basis of the positive results obtained from the potentially promising Agyokhush site discovered by geologists of AzerGold CJSC.
Drilling of 32 exploration wells with a total depth of 6,000 meters has been completed, which has been carried out with the purpose of increasing the reserves of sulphide ores of the Chovdar deposit of the Dashkesan district.
The geophysical work is undergoing on the Narchala-Agyokhush site, on the far flanks of the Chovdar deposit. Geophysical studies on the Kapaz site, on the territory of the Goygol district, will be carried out next year.
An agreement has been signed with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in order to conduct joint drilling operations at the Tulallar gold-bearing site in the Goygol district, and the drilling work is already underway.
The intensive drilling operations have also been carried out since July on the gold-bearing and potentially copper bearing Ortakend-Khanaga site on the territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
A preliminary appraisal document on the Filizchay poly-metallic deposit in the Balaken district and being of strategic importance not only for Azerbaijan but also for Europe, will be prepared by the influential international consulting company SRK Consulting before the end of this year.
Presently, the prospects for the development of the nearby Mazimchay, Katsdag, etc. deposits are being considered as part of the Filizchay deposit’s development project.
(1.7 manats = 1 USD on Nov. 21)
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