Azerbaijan's precious metal export hits $97.5 million

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan exported precious metals worth $97.5 million during the period of January-July 2020, with Switzerland accounting for the whole volume of export, local media has reported.

According to the report, 4,179 tons of gold and silver were exported to the world markets during the reporting period.

Likewise, the share of gold in the total amount of precious metals export amounted to 2,320 tons worth $96.4 million, while silver to 1,859 tons worth $1.7 million.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan exported 4,802 tons of gold worth $172.4 million, and 3,151 tons of silver worth $1.6 million.

In addition, for the last eight months of the year, gold has firmly established its position among the top three main export products of the non-oil sector of the country.

Gold mining in Azerbaijan is currently carried out by two companies, AzerGold CJSC, which owns 51 percent in Azerbaijan’s gold share, and Anglo Asian Mining PLC, with 49 percent of shares.

Extraction of the first gold in Azerbaijan started in 2009, and silver in 2010.

“AzerGold” CJSC is a national mining company, which was established on February 11, 2016 according to the presidential decree.

Earlier it was reported that AzerGold increased its revenues from the sale of gold and silver in the first eight months of 2020. Thus, the company’s revenues increased by $16 million or 32 percent in the reporting, amounting to $68.5. During the reporting period, AzerGold produced 39,312 ounces of gold, which is by 4,752 ounces or 14 percent more than initially planned. The production volume increased due to optimization works in production and introduction of new technological methodologies.

The company recently started geophysical and geological exploration in the country’s Dashkasan iron ore deposit with a proven reserves of 270 million tons. In August, President Aliyev ordered to allocate AZN 3 million ($1.7M) from the state budget of 2020 to AzerGold to begin preparation of the primary document of assessment of the Dashkesan iron ore deposit.