BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1. Azerbaijan’s AzerGold CJSC produced 5,100 ounces of gold and 13,900 ounces of silver in May 2022, the press service of the CJSC told Trend.
According to the press service, from January through May this year the company produced 20,300 ounces of gold and 67,800 ounces of silver.
In May, 4,800 ounces of gold and 11,400 ounces of silver were exported by the company.
"Since the beginning of this year, the CJSC has sold 17,300 ounces of gold and 52,300 ounces of silver on international exchanges. Azerbaijan's income from the sale of gold and silver amounted to 58.4 million manat ($34.3 million)," the press service said.
The CJSC also stressed that the production and export volumes in the first five months of this year slightly decreased compared to 5M2021 due to work on optimizing the production line of the Chovdar Integrated Regional Processing Area.
“In order to increase the use efficiency of minerals and ensure sustainable production, as part of the modernization work carried out this year, the production capacities of the existing conveyor lines in the Chovdar area were increased,” the company noted.
“Previously, the production line processed 210 tons of ore per hour, but after the above works, this figure increased to 300 tons per hour. Thus, we have created an opportunity to further increase production and exports. From the third quarter of this year, the export and production figures are expected to significantly exceed last year's figures," the company further said.
Besides, the construction of a new plant for the processing of transit and sulfide ores using the tank leaching method continues at an accelerated pace.
"The plant, which will be commissioned in late 2022 or early 2023, is planned to process sulfide ores from the Chovdar deposit and iron ores from the Marakh, Agyokhush-2 and Tulallar deposits," added the company.