Azerbaijan launched tank leaching gold mining facility at the Gedabek deposit operated by Anglo-Asian Mining plc, Trend reports.
The first portion of gold will be extracted from the ore in 48 hours. The tank leaching technology allows extraction of over 90% of gold from ore, compared with 70% extracted by manual leaching. It will process 100 tons of ore per hour.
Reza Vaziri, head of the company, said that gold output in the country will increase to 60,000 ounce in 2013, exceeding the figure in 2012 by 20%. Production expenses will drop to $500 per ounce.
50215 ounces of gold, 20133 ounces of silver and 502 tons of copper were extracted in Gedabek in 2012. Anglo Asian Mining controls an area of about 2,000 square kilometers, including the deposits of Gosha, Gedabek and Ordubad. The deposits have 36 tons of gold, 292 tons of silver, 94,000 tons of copper. The first portions of gold and silver at Gedabek were mined in May 2009, copper in 2010.
