Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 23 / Trend N.Ismayilova /
The company Anglo Asian Mining Plc, a manufacturer of gold in Azerbaijan, has a defined exploration program planned for 2011 aimed at extending the size of the discovery at Gosha, increasing the resource at the Gedabek mine, the company reported.
Following the initial discovery at Gosha, the Company aims to further extend the adits and is planning 1,500 metres of underground diamond drilling during 2011.
A further 17,500 metres of drilling is planned for the Gedabek Contract Area during 2011:7,500 metres will be drilled in an area that borders the existing mine and will concentrate on an area underground at a depth of 200 to 350 metres; 3,000 metres of drilling is planned at Cholpan, a highly prospective area in close proximity to the existing mine. 7,000 metres of drilling is planned at Maarif with the aim of defining an indicated resource.
"Exploration is a key part of our strategy as we strive to replicate the success of the Gedabek gold/copper mine in Azerbaijan, which in the fourth quarter of 2010 produced 19,555 ounces of gold, and create a mid tier mining company. As our discovery at Gosha as well as our other exploration activity highlights, we are confident that within our portfolio at least one if not more targets have the potential to host another mine," Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri said.
Anglo Asian Mining Plc is the only gold producer in Azerbaijan. The company owns the rights to develop six fields in south-west Azerbaijan at Gedabey, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu. The concession is based on PSA agreements signed with the Azerbaijani government in August 1997.According to the contract, it is planned to produce about 400 tons of gold, 2,500 tons of silver and 1.5 million tons of copper at the fields.
The first gold and silver were extracted at Gedabey mine in May 2009. In general, it is planned to produce over 300,000 ounces of gold at Gedabey field before 2015.