President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening of a new plant of “Azerbaijan International Mining Company Limited” in Gadabay.

It was noted that the construction of the new plant started last year and was completed in June of this year. The plant manufactures 100-150 tons of ore per hour. Whereas the previous plant produced around 70 per cent of gold from the ore, the new enterprise has increased this indicator to 85 per cent. The plant will produce sulphide ore, which was impossible with the previous plant. The environmental impact of the new facility will be significantly reduced. To this end, a storage area has been built and a pipe installed to drain wastes there.

The President watched the production process. It was indicated that the technology used at the plant was brought from abroad. The leaching system used in the processing is made in Australia and the settling system in the Republic of South Africa. While the old plant carried out the settling process in the open air, it is now done in closed tanks. The construction area of the new plant is 14,400 square meters. There are plans to produce 32,000 ounces of gold here.

It was indicated that the Gadabay deposit had been known since ancient times and was repeatedly developed for the production of precious metals. Mining work was carried out in the deposit in 1864-1917, when German company “Siemens” was engaged in copper production and extracted about 2 million tons of ore.

In 1997, Azerbaijani State Company “AzerGizil” and American “R.V. Investment Group Services LLC” signed the agreement on the exploration, development and production sharing for the Gadabay, Gosha, Ordubad group, Soyudlu, Gizilbulag and Vejnali gold ore prospects. The Gadabay gold ore project is carried out in conjunction with the Government of Azerbaijan, which owns 51 per cent of its revenue. The project is managed by the “Azerbaijan International Mining Company Limited”, which holds a 49-per cent interest stake in the project. The first plant within the project framework was commissioned in a ceremony attended by President Ilham Aliyev in 2009.

President Ilham Aliyev started up the plant.

The President of Azerbaijan praised the work done at the plant and gave further instructions and recommendations.