“The settlement [with the Azeri government] is a transformational milestone within the historical past of the corporate with the Garadagh porphyry deposit alone containing over 300,000 tonnes of copper with an in-situ worth of over $3 billion at present costs,” Anglo Asian stated.
It has been awarded three new concessions, considered one of which covers a deposit with greater than 300,000 tonnes of copper.
Two of the brand new concessions border the present Gedabek and Gosha Contract Areas and include the large-scale Garadagh porphyry deposit and the adjoining Xarxar copper deposit.
As a part of the deal, Anglo Asian will relinquish its rights to the open-pit Soyudlu gold mine (also called Soutely, Zod, or, in Armenian, Sotk), situated on the border between Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar district and Armenia.
Till work was halted in November last year, the mine was being operated by GPM Gold, the fourth-largest taxpayer in Armenia in 2020 according to the State Revenue Committee, paying over 30 billion drams ($58 million) into government coffers.
Giving up its rights to Soyudlu, follows “ongoing safety considerations, the impracticality of working a mine straddling the border with Armenia, the excessive stage of threat creating the mine and an absence of infrastructure on the Azerbaijan facet of the border,” the corporate stated within the assertion.
The brand new concessions can be included into Anglo Asian’s up to date manufacturing sharing settlement with the Azeri authorities, which can should be ratified by parliament earlier than changing into efficient.
