Anglo-American Firm Taps Azeri Mining Market

Agence France Presse
Aug 5 2005

05/08/2005 22:35

BAKU, Aug 5 (AFP) – A British and US-owned firm announced plans
Friday to invest close to 600 million dollars in the development of
gold deposits in Azerbaijan, making it the first foreign investor in
local mining since 1919.

Anglo Asian Mining Plc said it would invest some 50 million dollars
(41 million euros) in the first phase of a gold and copper mining
operation in the Azeri exclave of Nakhchevan.

Known better for its sizeable oil reserves, Azerbaijan has “the
potential to become as famous for gold mining and its copper,”
company Chief Operating Officer Gerald Phillips said.

Anglo Asian has been granted operating rights to six locations
across Azerbaijan under a Production-Sharing Agreement (PSA) with
Azerbaijan, including three areas currently under ethnic Armenian
military occupation.

The company holds a 49 percent stake in the PSA with Azerbaijan,
which holds the remaining 51 percent.

A first mine is slated to start producing in the third quarter of
2007, but the company said it had plans to invest roughly 600 million
dollars in total over the next few years.

The gold and copper deposits contain an estimated 94 million equivalent
ounces of gold, Anglo Asian said.

The company said it was the first international mining firm to enter
the Azerbaijani market since Germany’s Siemens abandoned a copper
mine when the Bolsheviks invaded in 1919.