BAKU

Two major Turkish holdings – Cengiz and Zirve – gained the right to explore and operate three ore deposits at the territories around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, liberated by Azerbaijan during the 44-day war with Armenia in autumn 2020.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree saying that the study, research, exploration, development and operation of the Gashgachay ore deposit had been transferred to copper production company Eti Bakır A.Ş., while the Elbeidash and Agduzdag ore deposits – to Artvin Maden A.Ş. for 30 years.

The companies are subsidiaries of Cengiz, a conglomerate, with major interests in construction, energy, mining, and tourism, and Zirve Holding that operates in media, construction, energy and infrastructure.

Baku is spending millions of dollars on infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions which were returned to central government control in the war last autumn.

The country’s Energy Ministry said earlier this month that Japanese company Tokyo Electric Power Services Co., Ltd. (TEPSCO) would prepare a concept and a master plan for creating a “green energy” zone in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Gashgachay deposit is located in the mountains of the Lesser Caucasus and is a porphyry copper deposit. It also contains molybdenum, silver, nickel, and zinc.

The Agduzdag deposit is located in the southeast of the Kelbajar region, one of seven regions of Azerbaijan liberated during the 44-day war.

The deposit is estimated to contain gold-bearing quartz. According to research conducted in Soviet times, gold mineralisation of industrial importance were discovered in five quartz-carbonate veins. The average gold grade was 6.72 grammes per one tonne. Experts say that there is a possibility of increasing the deposit reserves 3 or 4 times.

There is no available information about reserves of the Elbeidash deposit.

The mountains of the Lesser and Greater Caucasus are rich in ore deposits.