Azerbaijan, UK eye cooperation in mining industry

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the UK have discussed cooperation in the mining industry during the meeting between Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijan’s AzerGold gold mining company Zakir Ibrahimov and Director of International Trade Department of UK and Northern Ireland Embassy in Azerbaijan Joel Derbyshire.

Ibrahimov spoke about the company’s achievements in the exploration, production and other areas, launching new mines in the regions, and the work done to increase economic efficiency in the mining sector.

Noting that AzerGold attaches great importance to international cooperation in order to further optimize and improve its operations, the chairman stressed that the company has a successful experience of partnership with British companies.

In turn, Derbyshire noted that British companies have advanced experience in the mining industry, emphasizing that the UK is interested in developing a partnership with Azerbaijan in this area.

It was also noted that such meetings create useful opportunities for further expansion of cooperation.

The parties discussed trends in the development of the mining industry and exchanged views on issues of mutual interest.

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.

During the first ten months of 2020, AzerGold's revenues from the export of precious metals amounted to AZN 493 million ($289.9M) during the four years of the company’s activity. During this period, the company exported over 202,000 ounces of gold and over 350,000 ounces of silver from Chovdar mine. Of these funds, AZN 36.7 million were transferred to the state budget in the form of taxes and social payments.

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