BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 23
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
About 600 kilograms of precious metals are produced annually at the Khoy Gold Ingots Production Plant in Khoy county in West Azerbaijan province (northwestern Iran), said Hassan Hatami Head of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization's (ISIPO) branch in West Azerbaijan province, Trend reports citing IRNA.
According to Hatami, the plant produces 300 kg of gold and 300 kg of silver ingots per year.
Hatami added that gold ingots were produced without the need for cyanide at the plant.
The official said that 104 billion rials (about $2.48 million) were spent on the commissioning of the plant which is located on an area of 12,900 square meters and 81 people were employed.
There are 468 mines in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province and so far, 51 types of mining materials have been discovered in the province. About 31 types of mining materials are extracted and 20 types of mining materials are investigated.
The proven reserves of mines in this province reach 1.13 billion tons. About 16 million tons of mining materials are extracted in the province per year.