Confrontation in Azerbaijan over Dashkesan Iron Ore

The long-standing struggle for possession of Dashkesan Mining Plant and to manage deposits of the Dashkesan group has erupted again. This time, the confrontation between the sides appeared in the press.

The first "to lose his nerve" was the self-proclaimed owner of LLC Baku Steel Company Rasim Mammadov. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the company R. Mammadov gave an extensive interview to the website http://haqqin.az/news/45596, http://haqqin.az/news/45668, in which he touched on the activities of the State Joint-Stock Company Azerbaijan Steel Production Complex (ASPC). According to him, there was no need for the creation of this company, which plans to produce 1 million tons of steel and rolled metal per year, as much as LLC Baku Steel Company. According to Mammadov, the iron ore reserves will just serve for 5-6 years, while the staff only includes "thieves, swindlers and non-professionals.”

The head of LLC Baku Steel Company also touched on other metallurgical enterprises producing cast iron and steel pipes and controlled by him. In particular, he said that he intended to demolish the production capacity of Baki Poladtokme (Baku Steel Works) and to build a residential building in its place, ostensibly for the workers of the metallurgical complex.

The answer came immediately from the official state newspaper (http://www.azerbaijan-news.az/index.php?mod=3&id=70755). But this time the rhetoric was too open. The Director of the Department of Procurement and Logistics of ASPC Elbrus Jafarov noted that the privatization of Azerboru and Baki Poladtokme was not a success: managed by LLC Baku Steel Company, these enterprises are idle and thousands of workers have lost their jobs. Therefore, "the inclusion in the structure of the relevant state organizations will resume their activities and complete the cycle of heavy metals in a cluster," according to ASPC.

The ASPC representative said that the proven reserves of iron ore deposits in the Dashkesan group comprise 270 million tons, 40% of which is iron. And this is enough to meet the needs of the mining and processing plant for 80-100 years. The construction of four plants in the city of Ganja is also well underway.

Note that in the early 2000s Dashkesan Filizsaflashdyrma JSC was sold by investment tender first to the British company Aldex Limited and later to Det-Al Holding (UAE). In April 2013, by the order of the head of state ASPC JSC was created and JSC Dashkesan Filizsaflashdyrma was transferred into its structure. ----08B