Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov 21 /Trend A.Akhundov/
Azerbaijan International Mineral Resources Operating Co.Ltd - AIMROC began production of gold, Director for Sustainable Development and Strategic Planning of the company Mustafa Mammadov told Trend.
"First bar of gold from Chovdar mine deposit was ready at the end of September - beginning of October. At the moment the commissioning work is being held. We will reach full production in a month. There are about 40 tones of gold in the deposit and we are planning to mine it during 8-10 years. Annual production depends on many factors, there is no clear prediction," Mammadov said.
He noted that testing of plant on heap leaching of gold will end by the end of the year in parallel with the start of production.
"The plant will operate at full capacity since the beginning of next year. Capacity of our plant can handle all the ore that we have today and that could potentially be in the future - it is three thousand tons of ore per day," Mammadov said.
He said the company will extract lead, copper, silver, and other metals from this field in addition to gold production.
"It isn't possible to define the date for sending of the first batch of gold to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan yet. We're working on it. Maybe it will happen soon," Mammadov said.
The government of Azerbaijan will receive 30 percent of AIMROC's income from the development project at Garadagh, Chovdar, Geydagskoy and Dagkesaman mineralized areas of Kohnemyadan area.
The agreement between the Government of Azerbaijan and Londex Resources SA, Willy & Meyris SA, Fargate Mining Corporation, Globex International LLP, and Mitsui Mineral Development Engineering Co. Ltd. was signed on December 30, 2006.
The contract provides the exploration and development of Garadagh, Chovdar, Geydagskoy and Dagkesaman mineralized areas of Kehnemedanskoy area and Kurekchay pool.