Azerbaijan, Baku, April 19 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
Anglo-Asian Mining plc., the only gold producer in Azerbaijan, produced 6,167 ounces of gold from the Gadabay Mine in March, the company reported.
"The company produced 6,167 ounces of gold in March. Total production, which started in July, hit 25,022 ounces, exceeding the production capacity by 25,000 ounces. The company intended to achieve this figure by June 30, 2010," the company said.
According to the report, the company's gold mining forecast for Dec. 31 2010 is 53,500 ounces. The company management expects that production will continue increasing.
The Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee said about 320 kilograms of gold were extracted and processed in early 2010.
Anglo-Asian Mining has the right to develop six fields in southwest Azerbaijan - Gadabay, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu - based on agreements signed with the Azerbaijani government in the PSA format in August 1997.
The PSA was signed between the Azerbaijani government and the Azerbaijan International Mineral Resources Operating Company (for 30 years.
Azerbaijan's share is 51 percent, and Anglo-Asian Mining's is 49 percent.
Under the contract, plans include extracting about 400 tons of gold, 2,500 tons of silver and 1.5 million tons of copper on the fields.
The first gold and silver were mined in Gadabay in May 2009. In general, plans cover mining more than 300 million ounces of gold on this field before 2015.