Mining
Azerbaijan Pushes Gold and Copper Development as Mining Climbs the Agenda
September 6, 2026
4
Min
Azerbaijan is moving mining up its economic agenda, developing significant gold, copper and other mineral deposits as part of a broader push to build non-oil export earnings while hydrocarbon output declines.
The strategic logic is straightforward. Oil and gas GDP fell 0.6% in January-July 2026 while non-oil output grew 2.2%, and Baku needs export-generating sectors that are not tied to the Caspian shelf. Minerals qualify: copper in particular carries structural demand from grid buildout and electrification, and Azerbaijan holds deposits in territories that were inaccessible for decades.
Anglo Asian Mining, the London-listed operator with the deepest Azerbaijani portfolio, has been the visible face of that expansion, advancing work at the Demirli and Kharkhar sites and reporting copper revenue growth through the first half of 2026. Demirli is a copper-molybdenum asset, and its ramp-up shifts the company's revenue mix away from its legacy gold production toward base metals — a repositioning that aligns with where global demand is strongest. Development of the wider resource base was detailed by bne IntelliNews.
Regional context sharpens the picture. Across the border, the Eurasian Development Bank extended a $120 million credit line tied to Zangezur copper-molybdenum operations, underlining that the South Caucasus copper belt is drawing institutional capital on both sides. That creates a competitive dynamic for processing capacity, logistics and offtake agreements — and raises the value of the transport corridors now under construction. Sector context is tracked by AzerNews.
For investors the constraint is not geology but infrastructure and permitting. Mining projects require power, water, tailings management and rail or road access to export terminals, and each of those is a separate approval track. Azerbaijan's state has the fiscal capacity to co-fund enabling infrastructure — budget revenues are running AZN 756 million above forecast — but the record on speed is mixed.
If Baku can compress permitting timelines, minerals become a credible second export pillar within the decade. If it cannot, the deposits stay in the ground while copper prices do the arguing.
