The Azerbaijan Republic is rich with various minerals. Among them on the explored volumes and development of deposits the main place belongs to oil and gas. However the republic possesses also significant stocks of other kinds of minerals. In some of the fields the production is implemented in industrial volumes and they form separate parts of mining industry.
Other part of minerals has been explored, in their territory the mining and mountain-concentrating enterprises settled down small on volume. Because of absence of corresponding investments during the Soviet and post Soviet period, extraction on these deposits was stopped.
Azerbaijan has huge stocks of raw material for an iron and steel
industry. Mainly in mining industry, industrial development
started from second half of 20 century in Dashkesen alunite
("ZAYLIK") and iron-ore deposits. "Zaylik"
deposit is a raw-material base of the aluminum industry. There
is a full technological cycle of reception ore in the republic,
starting from extraction up electrolyte production of initial
aluminum. The country exports iron-ore concentrates because
of the absence of manufacture and processing facilities to process
the concentrate to an end-product.
From the middle of the last century in AR Nakhchivan was implemented
the development of tungstenmolibdenic ores
in Paragachay and lead-zinc ores in Gumushlu.
Tungstenmolibdenic and lead-zinc concentrates for the further
processing were taken out of the Azerbaijan Republic.
Industrial development of a deposit of mercury
in "Shorbulag" field was conducted in the territory
of Kelbadjar, and there are greater explored stocks of mercury
on deposits "Agiyatchay" and "Legchay". In AR Nakhchivan, Upper
Karabagh and Gazakh regions of republic, there are some dozens
of deposits of mercury with not specified industrial volume.
Industrial stocks of copper and cobalt
have been explored from the middle of 19 centuries in Azerbaijan.
Industrial development of a deposit of copper in Gedabek and
cobalt in Dashkesan (settlement Cobalt) areas has been implemented.
In Nakhchivan AR lead-zink is extracted in the Gumushlu field.
In the first half of the 20th century the extraction of copper
and cobalt was stopped.
Total stock of rock salt deposits in Nakhchivan
AR is more than one billion ton. Despite the fact that industrial
development was carried out on the deposits in the 20th century,
volume of extracted salt have considerably decreased now.
The projects connected with development of gold-bearing
deposits have the important place in the economic life of the
republic. The Azerbaijan geologists have explored deposits of
gold in Tovuz, Gedabay, Kalbajar, Zangilan,
Dashkesan regions and in AR Nakhchivan. As a result of this
a contract was signed between the Azerbaijan government and
the American company " RV Investment Services Group LLC " on
the development of deposits "Keleki", "Sherkdere", "Aghyourd",
"Gedebay", etc.
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MINERAL RESOURCE INDUSTRY
