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Azerbaijan to set up an agency to oversee gold export

25 June 2009 16:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Kamala Guliyev, Rashad Suleymanov - APA-Economics. Azerbaijan plans to establish an agency to supervise the export of gold abroad, said Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Huseyn Baghirov.

â€œA request has been sent to the Cabinet. We think the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources shouldnâ€™t be the only body to oversee the governmentâ€™s 51% interest in this project.
Now the geological stage is complete, and we need such a body to control the process and, if necessary, conduct audits,â€ he added.

The Minister added that under the terms of the agreement, Anglo Asian Mining Plc. will take all its expenses it spent on the project.

â€œGold processing is a very complicated process. If one tonne contains at least 2 grams of gold, it is subject to processing. We will get about 2-3 tons of gold this year,â€ he added.

After the industrial production launched at Gedabek Gold Project in mid-May, Azerbaijan International Mining Operating Company (AIMOC) plans to market the first gold in late June or early July.

Gedabek, located in western Azerbaijan, is an open pit, heap leach operation, which is targeted to produce approximately 70,000 oz Au of gold in its first full year of production.

AIMOC, led by Anglo Asian Mining plc, also plans to develop new mines and continue exploration at Gosha (Tovuz) and Ordubad (Nakhchivan) fields.

Until 2015, 300 000 ounces of gold is likely to be produced from Gedabek.

Anglo Asian Mining Plc (49%) and Azerbaijan (51%) signed a 30-year Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to develop previously identified copper and gold properties in Azerbaijan that lie on the Tethyan Mineralization Belt which runs between Turkey and Pakistan.
The joint venture has copper and gold development properties in 3 separate mining areas of Azerbaijan.
The six fields reflected in the agreement include one field in Nakhchivan, one in Gandja, one in Gedebey, 3 in the occupied lands (Zod Field in Kelbedjer, Kizilbulag in Aghdara, and Vajnali in Zangilan).