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Azerbaijan pushes back industrial gold production to May

30 March 2009 12:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov - APA-Economics. The completion of infrastructure work to launch the industrial production at its Gedabek Gold Project was pushed back to May, said Azerbaijan International Mining Operating Company (AIMOC), led by Anglo Asian Mining plc.
The company attributed the delay to the fact that equipment shipment from Canada and Australia has not been delivered yet. The plant is expected to be ready in early May.
Mine pre-stripping has been completed and the first touch down on the ore body has been achieved on the north side of the mine. Approximately 130,000 tonnes of ore, derived from historical workings at the site, are stockpiled at the plant. This represents 1.5 months of production.
It was estimated that Gedabek had a combined gold equivalent resource of about one-million ounces, while capital costs for the project were estimated at $30.7-million.
In Gedebek field 15 tons of soil shall be refined for an ounce of gold and it is possible to extract 2 grams of gold from one ton soil.
Gold production will then be started in Gosha Field which was proved in exploration as promising and feasible.
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).
Under the Production Sharing Agreement, 400 tons of gold, 2,500 tons of silver and 1.5 million tons of copper will be extracted from the contract fields.