AzerGold expands production and export capacity

"AzerGold" Closed Joint Stock Company produced 5.1 thousand ounces of gold and 13.9 thousand ounces of silver in May 2022, and 20.3 thousand ounces of gold and 67.8 thousand ounces of silver in the first 5 months of the current year.

During the last month, 4.8 thousand ounces of gold and 11.4 thousand ounces of silver were exported. In January-May, upon the sale of 17.3 thousand ounces of gold and 52.3 thousand ounces of silver on international exchanges, income in the amount of 58.4 million manats were involved to the country's economy. Therewith, Company has fulfilled the tasks for the first 5 months in accordance with the production and export plans of 2022.

As compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, the decrease in the production and export figures during January-May of the current year is related to the optimization works carried out in the production line of the Chovdar Integrated Regional Processing Area (CIRPA). Thus, in order to increase the efficiency of mineral resource use and ensure sustainable production, within the framework of the reconstruction works carried out during the current year, the capacity of the existing crusher and conveyor lines in CIRPA was increased, and thus, the production capabilities were risen up. As a result, while 210 tons of ore were processed per hour in the crushing area previously, after the optimization work, the specified volume was increased by 43% up to 300 tons per hour. Thus, optimization works will create an opportunity to increase production and export from the 3rd quarter of the current year and to accomplish more than the final level of progress of the previous year.

Notably, in addition to the existing heap-leaching processing plant, the construction of a new plant operating via Carbon in Leach - CIL method to process transit and sulphide ores is also rapidly underway. The plant, which will be put into operation at the end of 2022-early 2023, will process the ores from the sulphide stage of "Chovdar" field, as well as those from "Marah", "Agyokush-2", "Tulallar" and its adjacent fields.