Armenia has restarted gold mining operations at the Sotk deposit, which borders Azerbaijan's Zod deposit.
Report informs via Armenian media that the mining has now shifted to an underground method, as confirmed by Hovhannes Harutyunyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia, during the Mining Armenia conference.
The target production capacity of 400,000 tons per year is expected to be reached in the second half of 2025. Currently, the mine is operating at a capacity equivalent to 100,000-150,000 tons annually.
According to Harutyunyan, the suspension was necessitated by the depletion of surface-level reserves, making it more economically viable to extract the remaining gold from deeper layers.