Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 7 / Trend A. Akhundov /
According to Azerbaijani Anglo-Asian Mining PLC,, a 20 per cent increase in gold production is expected at the Gadabay field in 2013, the company said today.
'This growth will be possible after the vat leaching plant is commissioned', the statement read. 'This is planned to be made in the first half of 2013'.
The plant will process ore and resources not suitable for heap leaching which a method of obtaining gold from ore that is currently in use in the field. Vat leaching technology allows for the extraction of more than 90 per cent of the gold contained in the treated ore, whereas the figure is only about 70 per cent for ore treated with heap leaching.
According to preliminary estimates, gold recovery at the plant is expected to reach 85 per cent in oxide ore and 69 per cent in sulphide. However, the company continues to conduct tests geared towards the improvement of these indices. The new plant is designed to process 100 tons of ore per hour.
The company extracted 50,215 ounces of gold, 20,133 ounces of silver and 502 tons of copper at the Gadabay field in 2012. It is planned to increase production to 60,000 ounces of gold in 2013.
According to the terms of a production sharing agreement (PSA) with the Azerbaijani government, Anglo Asian Mining has rights for exploration and extraction of mineral resources in an area of around 2000 square kilometres, including three contract areas (Gosha, Gadabay and Ordubad).
The company's resource base exceeds 36 tons of gold, 292 tons of silver and 94,000 tons of copper. The Gadabay mine is the largest among the fields developed by Anglo Asian Mining. The first gold and silver were extracted there in May 2009. The production of copper concentrate began in 2010.