AzerGold exports over tons of mercury waste

By Azernews

By Leman Mammadova

AzerGold Closed Joint-Stock Company, operating on the basis of international standards, is taking practical measures in the direction of disposal of mercury waste in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, environmental protection and human health.

As is known, in addition to gold and silver, the ore mined at the Chovdar deposit also contains mercury in a certain amount. This element, which represents a danger to human life and the environment, is separated by means of special equipment, packaged and stored in compliance with all necessary safety measures.

In world practice at the moment there are two ways to dispose of mercury wastes - burial and recycling. Disposal of mercury wastes is widespread in the world, however it is a danger to human health and leads to land pollution.

Sale of mercury wastes for the purpose of reuse in production is a more environmentally friendly solution and is accompanied by numerous necessary procedures, such as obtaining appropriate permits, ensuring safe transportation conditions, and guaranteeing that this element is used only for production.

Taking into account that environmental and social responsibility is one of the most important priorities of AzerGold, the company chose the more complicated and least harmful method of mercury waste disposal - the implementation of this element for further recycling.

For this purpose, AzerGold CJSC has studied the local market and due to the lack of demand for mercury in the local market, the company began negotiations with numerous foreign companies that meet the listed requirements.

After analyzing all the existing proposals, AzerGold CJSC signed a contract with the Singapore company Asia Mercury, which meets all the necessary requirements and offers the most favorable conditions, as well as suitable conditions for KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures, as well as legal and technical audit (“due diligence”).

As a result, CJSC successfully exported 1,163 kg of mercury wastes generated at Chovdar plant to Singapore, thereby making its own contribution to environmental protection and making a profit of about 40,000 manat.

As of January this year, the director of Asia Mercury visited the Chovdar ore processing site, where he praised not only the processes of capture and storage of mercury in compliance with all necessary safety measures, but also the conditions created here, the use of modern technologies labor protection measures.

The export was implemented in compliance with the requirements of the Minamata Convention governing the use of mercury at the international level. The Convention aims to systematically implement the necessary measures to prevent the negative effects of mercury on human health and the environment.

“AzerGold” Closed Joint-Stock Company was established on February 11, 2015. The company uses new technologies in exploration, development and management of non-ferrous metal deposits, modernization of the material and technical sources and their effective use, as well as other work for developing this sphere.

In 2018, AzerGold CJSC established a centralized electronic system of finance, supply, staff management and warehousing and introduced an electronic document management system. This will also contribute to the transparency of the document flow, as well as accelerate the distribution of documents in electronic form.

At the moment, AzerGold CJSC successfully continues production at the Chovdar deposit. As a result of the successful operation of this field, 319 permanent jobs were opened and taxes in the amount of 10,523,220 manats were paid in 2018.

As a company based on modern standards, AzerGold attaches great importance to creating a safe working conditions and protection of the environment.