Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.12 / Trend I. Khalilova /
By 2014 the amount of gold production in Azerbaijan will increase by six times, the Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev said during the discussion of the draft of public budget for 2011 at the Azerbaijani Parliament's plenary session.
"Increase will be achieved through the expansion of gold mining at the Gedabek mine," Mustafayev said.
Based on the State Statistics Committee, the country produced and sent to clean up 1.2 tons of gold since early 2010.
Anglo Asian Mining Plc owns the rights to develop six fields in southwest Azerbaijan - Gedabek, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu. The concession is based on PSA agreements signed with the Azerbaijani government in August 1997.Azerbaijan's only gold producer, Anglo Asian Mining Plc, has extracted 19,214 ounces of gold in the third quarter from the Gedabek mine, as a result of which the total production for three quarters of 2010 reached 47,711 ounces.
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.
Gold and silver were first mined in Gedabek in May 2009. In general, plans cover mining more than 300 million ounces of gold on this field before 2015.