Azernews.Az

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

The mining sector is one of the leading sectors in the economy of Azerbaijan. Mining of precious metals, such as gold and silver, successfully expands in its volumes.

Gold mining in the country amounted to 2,061 kilograms in January-July 2019, which is 8.7 percent more than in the same period last year, the State Statistics Committee said in a message. In July alone, 339.8 kg of gold was mined in Azerbaijan. Last year, gold mining equaled 4,239 kg.

Gold mining in Azerbaijan is currently carried out by two companies. On August 21, 1997, Azerbaijan signed a contract on the development of six fields: one in Nakhchivan, two in the Gadabay region, and three in Kalbajar and Zangilan, currently occupied by Armenia. Azerbaijan takes serious measures to reach the maximum productivity from the deposits.

The extraction of the first gold from the Gadabay deposit began in 2009, and the extraction of silver - in 2010. Gold mining at the Gosha field began in the third quarter of 2013. Gadir gold mine was put into operation in the summer of 2015, and the Ugur mine - in September 2017.

As for silver mining in Azerbaijan, it amounted to 2,143 kg in January-July 2019, which recorded a growth of 18.8 percent compared to the same period of 2018. In July alone, silver production amounted to 423.7 kg.

As of August 1, reserves of the mined silver in the warehouses of manufacturing companies made up 659.5 kg.

Silver production in 2018 amounted to 2,671 kg, which is 3.8 times more than in 2017.

Currently, two companies carry out silver mining in Azerbaijan. In particular, the country signed a contract with Anglo Asian Mining PLC on August 21, 1997. In addition, silver mining is carried out by AzerGold CJSC, established in 2015.

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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1

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