AzerGold boosts gold, silver production in 2021

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan's AzerGold CJSC Board Chairman Zakir Ibrahimov has said that the company increased gold production by 2 percent in 2021, Trend has reported.

He noted that AzerGold produced 61,500 ounces of gold since early 2021. It should be noted that last year the company produced 60,000 ounces of gold.

Speaking about silver production, Ibrahimov underlined that more than 135,000 ounces of silver have been extracted since early 2021, which is by 11 percent more than last year. It should be noted that last year the company extracted 121,000 ounces of silver.

The board chairman added that the demand for gold and silver items in the domestic market has grown sharply amid the changes in tax and customs legislation in early 2021.

"After the exemption of import of gold items from excise tax and sale of gold and silver from VAT, the retail sale has revived. So far, we have sold a total of 3,660 ounces of gold and 14,600 ounces of silver on the domestic market," he said.

He mentioned that AZN 11.6 million ($6.8M) was attracted to the company's budget, as a result of these sales, which is seven times more than last year. Ibrahimov added that 966 ounces of gold and 14,500 ounces of silver were sold as raw materials in the domestic market.

"As a result of these sales, we were able to attract AZN 3.7 million ($2.2M) to our budget (30 percent of the total sales in the domestic market)," he said.

Ibrahimov also stated that 2,694 ounces of gold and 86 ounces of silver were sold in the domestic market as finished goods.

“Some AZN 7.9 million ($4.6M) (70 percent of the total sales in the domestic market) was attracted into a turnover as a result of the sale of these goods,” he said.

The AzerGold CJSC is a national mining company, which was established on February 11, 2016, under the presidential decree. In 2020, the company's net profit increased by about $35.8 million compared to 2019 and exceeded $48.2 million.