Located at the administrative area of Balakan district, Filizchay was discovered
in 1959. It is the biggest polymetallic deposit in the region and the largest project of AzerGold CJSC. Moreover, Filizchay is considered as the largest deposit in Europe and ranks high in the list of polymetallic deposits of the world in terms of the amount of its reserves. The reserves include precious and non-ferrous metals such as gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead.
Operational commissioning of every mine requires carrying out geological exploration works, developing feasibility study, performing construction-installation works, and suchlike long-term works. With regard to the scale of the project, the implementation of the above mentioned phases will take about 5-8 years before launching the mine. Although in light of foresaid, the entry into service of Filizchay project was previously planned to 2027, in virtue of optimization works carried out by AzerGold CJSC, it will be possible to launch it two years earlier, meaning in 2025.
According to initial estimation, during 50-year projected operation period until 2075, "Filizchay" will generate approximately billions manats income to the country’s economy. Along with this profit, the project will open more than 1000 new vacancies. The implementation of Filizchay project will significantly contribute to socio-economic development of the region. Within the framework of the first phase, ore samples were sent to the laboratory of “Petrolab”, the reputable company of Great Britain, for further mineralogical analysis. In accordance with international standards, 67 pits with total depth of 19.595 were drilled for re-evaluation of the reserves in the deposit and the results were studied subsequently. The ore reserves were estimated in accordance with the requirements of JORC Code, a mandatory system for the classification of minerals. Thus, available amount of extractable ore reserves was increased by 88% and 20% respectively, in comparison to the figures indicated in state balance report developed in 1983 during USSR and audit evaluation results obtained in 2018 by SRK Consulting Company of South African Republic. Approved amount of subsurface resources in the mine is 112.71 million tons. Currently, metallurgical surveys are carried out to develop optimized refining schemes for the deposit.
