Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

AzerGold, the state-owned company engaged in exploring, development and management of deposits of precious and base metals in Azerbaijan, will refine own-produced gold and silver bullions.

The company has already signed a contract with one of the highly-regarded refining companies -- Swiss Argor-Heraeus.

AzerGold will dispatch gold and silver bullions, produced in Chovdar ore processing area located in Dashkasan region, to Switzerland for the purpose of refining, and obtaining fine gold and silver.

AzerGold announced that it has researched the most influential refining companies for collaboration, by taking into consideration the quality, price, and goodwill criteria conforming to international standards and applied to eligible ones.

Besides, refining companies representing different countries have researched that AzerGold meets standard international requirements, its transparency based on several criteria.

AzerGold was founded according to the presidential decree in February 2015.

The company plans to produce almost 1.3 tons of gold and two tons of silver at the Chovdar mine in 2017, reads the government report for 2016.

In the subsequent years, AzerGold plans to start production at other fields, namely Filizchay and Mazimchay in Balakan region, as well as at the Goydag site in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

With most of its gold resources still untapped, the country has a room for investors in the mining industry.

The country started industrial production of gold in July 2009. About 900 fields were registered in Azerbaijan's state and territorial balance of reserves of mineral resources.

The Ministry for Ecology and Natural Recourses estimates that the country is able to produce about 10-15 tons of gold a year.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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