Acquaintance with operation of Damirli Ore Processing Complex

On January 13, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev reviewed the operation of the Damirli Ore Processing Complex in the village of Janyatag in the Aghdara district and pressed the symbolic button to initiate ore blasting.

The complex includes a copper flotation plant, a wet tailings storage facility, an electrical substation, and other structures. With a total mining and production area of 929 hectares, the complex has been reconstructed using Turkish and German technologies. A total of 15.3 million manats in private investment has been allocated to reconstruction and restoration. Damirli is the first mining industry project launched in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories. At the copper flotation plant, ore extracted from Damirli mine will be processed to produce the final product—copper concentrate. Copper flotation plant’s annual processing capacity is 5.6 million tons of ore.

The Damirli copper deposit, which had been under Armenian occupation since 1993, was subjected to illegal exploitation for approximately 10 years starting from May 13, 2013. Of the 311,000 tons of recoverable copper reserves known at the time, 218,000 tons, around 70 percent, were illegally extracted. Currently, the initial exploitation phase of the remaining reserves covers the period from 2025 to 2030. During this period, the export of 85,000 tons of copper metal in the form of concentrate, valued at 1.6 billion manats, to the People’s Republic of China is planned. At the same time, an increase in the mine’s copper reserves is projected in the coming years. According to preliminary geological exploration data, there are nearly 470,000 tons of additional copper reserves. A four-year geological exploration and research program will clarify the recoverable volume of these reserves.

At the initial stage, the complex has provided permanent employment for 980 people. Of these, 260 are former internally displaced persons, including citizens who have returned to the liberated territories. In the coming years, it is planned to increase the number of permanent jobs to 1,250, with the majority filled by representatives of local communities. Mining operations at the site are carried out by the operating company Azerbaijan International Mining Company Limited, in accordance with an agreement concluded in 2024 between AzerGold CJSC and the U.S. company R.V. Investment Group Services.