Azerbaijan, Baku, June 5 / Trend, N. Ismayilova /
The Anglo-Asian Mining plc company, only gold producer in Azerbaijan, plans to sell at least 1,000 tons of copper by late 2011, Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri told Trend on Saturday.
"Part of copper is exported as a concentrate to South Korea, while part is being prepared for export. The copper produced by us has high humidity and not all are ready to buy it," Veziri said.
He said new technologies are used at the company's plant, which help to reduce ore humidity.
"An agreement was reached with the Azerbaijani government to pay the state's share in copper by gold, because now gold reserves are being created in the country, and the government found it more reasonable to receive its share as gold," he said.
Veziri said by late the year it is also planned to sell about five million ounces of silver. The company sends the mined silver together with gold for refining to Switzerland.
The Anglo-Asian Mining plc company, only gold producer in Azerbaijan, produced 14,028 ounces of gold from the Gedabek gold/copper mine in Azerbaijan in the first quarter of 2011. In the first quarter the company produced copper concentrate containing about 104 tons of cooper, 762 kilograms of silver and 2.3 kilograms of gold.
Gold and silver were first discovered through mining in Gedabek in May 2009.
Anglo Asian Mining owns the rights to develop six fields in southwest Azerbaijan, including Gedabek, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu. The concession is based on PSA agreements signed with the Azerbaijani government in Aug. 1997.