AzerGold's revenues from gold, silver sale hit $110.7m

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan's AzerGold CJSC Board Chairman Zakir Ibrahimov has said that the company's revenues from the sale of gold and silver in 2021 amounted to AZN 188.3 million ($110.7m), Trend has reported.

He noted that the company's income from the sale of gold and silver increased by 0.4 percent year on year. Ibrahimov added that last year AzerGold sold 60,000 ounces of gold and 133,000 ounces of silver.

"Over the past five years, the company has sold more than AZN 755 million ($444.1m) worth of gold and silver," he said.

Net profit

The board chairman noted that the company's net profit is expected to reach about AZN 80 million ($47m) as of 2021.

He recalled that AzerGold's net profit amounted to AZN 82 million ($48m) in 2020.

"AzerGold company paid taxes in the amount of AZN 29.7 million ($17.5m) in 2021," he added.

Gold, silver production

Speaking about the gold and silver production, Ibrahimov noted that the company has exceeded its production plan by 11 and 55 percent, respectively.

Thus, in 2021, AzerGold produced 61,500 ounces of gold and 134,400 ounces of silver.

"The company increased gold production by 2.5 percent in 2021 and silver production by 10.9 percent, compared to 2020," he said.

Ibrahimov added that last year, a number of important steps were taken to improve the efficiency of the company's mineral resources and optimize production processes. He also noted that over the past five years the company has produced 255,600 ounces of gold and 484,500 ounces of silver.

Transfers to state budget

"In 2021, AzerGold transferred AZN 33 million ($19.4m) to the state budget of Azerbaijan," he said.

He noted that the index rose by 158 percent (2.6 times) compared to 2020.

"Overall, over the past five years the company has transferred AZN 73.8 million ($43.4m) to the state budget," he said.

Domestic market

At the same time, the board chairman emphasized that the company sold 2,649 ounces of its products on the domestic retail market in 2021, which is by 5.5 times more than a year earlier.

He noted that 97 percent of the sold products were gold and 3 percent were silver.

"The value of the realized production increased by 4.8 times, compared to 2020, up to AZN 8.7 million ($5.1m)," he said.

Chovdar deposit

Ibrahimov also stated that as a result of additional research, exploration and optimization of deposits conducted by the company in recent years, reserves of commercial gold in the oxide (surface) phase of the Chovdar deposit have increased from 179,000 to 212,000 ounces.

He noted that the operation of the Chovdar deposit at the oxide stage was completed in April 2021.

"At the same time in the reporting year, the operation of oxide ores of the Chovdar deposit at the sulfide stage resulted in the production of 28,000 ounces," he said.

Earlier the board chairman stressed that the potential of non-ferrous metal reserves in the Azerbaijani liberated territories will play a big role in the further development of this sector.

“The initial research launched by our company in 2021 in Tutkhun gold deposit will contribute to the social and economic development of not only Kalbajar region, but also the Eastern Zangazur economic region as a whole,” he said.

The AzerGold CJSC is a national mining company, which was established on February 11, 2016, under the presidential decree.