Companies that illegally operated mines during  Armenian occupation and now are made public

Baku/17.01.23/Turan: Companies from Armenia, the USA, Canada, India, Russia and a number of European countries participated in the illegal development of deposits of precious and non-ferrous metals of Azerbaijan during the Armenian occupation.

This was stated by the Chairman of the board of the Geological Exploration Agency of Azerbaijan Ali Aliyev at a briefing on Tuesday.

In particular, illegal mining was carried out at gold-bearing and copper-molybdenum mines Soyudlu, Vezhnali, Damirli and Gyzylbulag. This was done by Canadian companies "Sterlite Gold" LTD and "First Dynasty Mines"; Swiss companies "Base Metals", "Vallex Group"; Russian company "Geopro Mayninq Gold Company"; Armenian company "Armenian Copper Program" co-owned by entrepreneurs from Sweden and Liechtenstein; American company "Global Gold"; Indian company "Vedanta Resourcess".

After the 44-day war in 2020, as a result of the liberation of the Zangilan and Kelbajar regions, Azerbaijan regained the Vezhnali and Soyudlu gold deposits.

In early December, negotiations were held with Russian peacekeepers to ensure monitoring and inventory of the Damirli and Soyugbulag mines in the former Mardakert region. However, on December 10, local Armenians did not allow Azerbaijani specialists to enter the site, and the peacekeepers did not fulfill their obligations.

After that, on December 12, a continuous protest action of Azerbaijani environmentalists began on the Shusha-Khankyandi road. -16B06-