THE SOYUDLU GOLD MINE: GEOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE FOR AZERBAIJAN

Abstract

The So­yud­lu gold mi­ne, lo­ca­ted in so­ut­he­as­tern Azer­bai­jan, is among the co­untry's most im­por­tant and high-po­ten­ti­al gold de­po­sits. For­med wit­hin comp­lex mag­ma­tic and se­di­men­tary geo­lo­gi­cal struc­tu­res, the gold oc­curs in qu­artz and cal­ci­te ve­ins, as well as in dis­per­sed ore mi­ne­rals. Sin­ce the 2000s, ac­ti­ve de­ve­lop­ment has com­bi­ned tra­di­tio­nal open-pit mi­ning with mo­dern hydro­me­tal­lur­gi­cal tech­ni­qu­es, par­ti­cu­larly cya­ni­de le­ac­hing, enab­ling ef­fi­ci­ent ext­rac­ti­on even from low-gra­de ores. The mi­ne plays a key ro­le in Azer­bai­jan’s eco­nomy, cont­ri­bu­ting to emp­loy­ment, re­gio­nal inf­rast­ruc­tu­re de­ve­lop­ment, and fo­re­ign cur­rency earnings thro­ugh gold ex­ports. Whi­le en­vi­ron­men­tal con­cerns such as wa­ter and air pol­lu­ti­on per­sist, ef­forts li­ke land rec­la­ma­ti­on and con­ti­nu­o­us eco­lo­gi­cal mo­ni­to­ring sup­port mo­re sus­tai­nab­le mi­ning prac­ti­ces. With con­ti­nu­ed in­vest­ment and tech­no­lo­gi­cal in­no­va­ti­on, the So­yud­lu mi­ne is ex­pec­ted to re­ma­in a vi­tal part of Azer­bai­jan’s mi­ning sec­tor and eco­no­mic fu­tu­re.

Key­words: So­yud­lu gold mi­ne, hydro­me­tal­lurgy, cya­ni­de le­ac­hing, mi­ne­ral re­so­ur­ces, open-pit met­hods