RESOURCES WAITING TO BE USED

Not many countries, even very big ones, can boast such an abundance of natural economic zones as geographically small Azerbaijan can. The country lies in nine of the earth's 11 climate zones, from the sub-tropics to alpine grasslands, but it has mineral wealth that others can only dream about.  And this wealth can and must be used to the maximum benefit of the state. But regrettably we don't always treat wisely what lies literally on the surface - a whole number of minerals are either forgotten, or many deposits are not properly exploited. What are the prospects for geological surveying in the country? Azerbaijani merited geologist Vasif Xalilzada shared his views on this in an interview for R+.

- What successes have been achieved in geology over the past 20 years?

- A lot. The "gold" contract of the century was signed. That is what we geologists call the contract signed between Azerbaijan and the American RV Investment Group Services company for the production of gold at the Gadabay field. This project presumes using the latest technological advances for developing raw materials, the basis of which was laid at the Institute of Raw Minerals. We have done a lot of work in reassessing small fields that were exposed in the past. They were regarded as such in Soviet times and were simply described as showing signs of gold and other precious metals. For example, if less than 3-4 grammes of gold were contained in each tonne of ore, this field was discarded. But research has shown that even with a content of up to one gramme of gold in one tonne of ore, it can easily be re-processed and used to great economic effect. And this is what this institute has been doing with some of our fields. As a result, foreign companies have shown an interest in this, and for the first time a contract was signed, on the basis of which RV Investment began work, albeit a little late, at the Gadabay field. Gold production will be environmentally sound, using bio-geochemical technology.

I would also like to point out that alunites have been produced from clay for the first time in world practice at Ganca. But production was halted because of serious pollution of the environment. We realized this at the time and took the appropriate measures, but to no avail. But this was the first alunite plant and it could have had faults which would have had to be put right. Therefore, research at the base of this plant should be continued both at our institute and at the polytechnical institute.  A very interesting idea not just for the metallurgical extraction of ore, but by using a method of desalinization and subsequent processing, has already been developed, for which the appropriate patent has been obtained.

Then there are dolomites. They exist in abundance in Naxcivan - in short the resources are unlimited,: their capacities are measured in hundreds of metres and they extend for several kilometres. We have laid the foundations for a major soda combine plant at this field. Special technology for the integrated processing of dolomites has been tested and a patent has been obtained.

- What is the task facing geologists today?

- The industries and structures concerned in Azerbaijan, mainly geologists, should not only be seeking new fields but putting all their efforts into utilizing the achievements of science and technology. Only then will our innovative technology help us to bring our fields up to commercial development on a large scale and produce results, at the same time aspiring as much as possible to create waste-free, integrated technology. Today, by using state-of-the-art technology we are seeing a transition to precise and superfine extraction of raw minerals, thereby increasing their intensity. The task facing the country is not just to be a supplier of raw materials, but to be a country with a completed production cycle and innovative sustainable technology, and to become a producer of prized output with high demand on the world market.

- Which fields are still waiting to be used?

- We currently have a total of 500 deposits which are waiting in the wings. For example, the Qaradag field of copper-paraffin ores in Gadabay District. Again, with the raw-material processing equipment we had then we would have become a raw-material supplier with a polluted environment, which did not suit us at all, and we put this question before the institute. Within a short time geologists had tested and prepared a completely new form of technology: bio-geological technology using bacterial substances. Natural copper sulphate, for which there was a huge demand in Azerbaijan because of the development of viticulture, could have been obtained from this ore. Horticulture and vegetable growing, not to mention other industries, cannot manage without copper sulphate. And in a short time experts had tested the technology for obtaining copper sulphate and carried out large-scale research, which was followed by a decision of the Azerbaijani cabinet of ministers to set up the Canlibel enterprise for the production of copper sulphate at the Qaradag field of copper-paraffin ores. The plans were as follows: we would extract 50-60 per cent of the output for ourselves and export the rest, because there was unlimited demand for it. Unfortunately, after the collapse of the USSR, this process was also suspended.

Azerbaijan's now forgotten zeolite fields are also an irreplaceable raw material for the purification of drinking water and a fodder additive in stockbreeding. Today science, and that includes experts from Russia and Ukraine, believe that zeolite should be put on our tables along with salt. But we, with our rich deposits of this mineral, don't use it. They have the effect of an ion-exchange function, extracting all cancer-producing substances from the organisms of animals. A supplement of zeolites to manure makes it a higher quality fertilizer. Azerbaijani geologists have for the first time in world practice applied zeolites for the fine purification of drinking water. Another group of our geologists also used zeolites, but this was for natural gas drying. Both groups at the time became Lenin Prize winners for science. This was a splendid achievement by our geologists, but, unfortunately, all this has now been forgotten.

- Can the waste products from developing the fields be recycled?

- Armed with all this knowledge we put forward a proposal about the integrated utilization of raw materials. The Ganca Alumina Refinery, for example. For the first time in world practice we obtained clay from alumina ore and later pure metal - aluminium. From the production of one tonne of clay at the Ganca Alumina Refinery we can get up to 6 tonnes of waste products in the form of sludge.

We then asked the experts what we should do with these waste products, and they said - use them. Let me show you one of these. (Vasif goes up to a shelf and picks up what looks like a rectangular piece of rock, but fairly light.) Yes, like a piece of rock which is perfectly suitable for building purposes. But there wasn't a gramme of cement in it. This was artificial rock based on waste products from the Ganca Alumina Refinery. Thanks to the technology which was recommended it was possible to produce up to 1 billion cubic metres of light building material annually, meeting the whole of Azerbaijan's requirements, and exporting the rest.

At the same time, we produced trellis for vineyards made from solid Gancaporit - without cement and based on waste products, lime and additives of other components. And the result was that in the 1970s grape production reached 1 million tonnes. The task was to increase the figure to 3 million tonnes. And even more trellises were asked to be built. Anyway, real trellis was made from reinforced concrete consisting of a metal insert, grit, cement and sand, each weighing about 70-75 kg. From the waste products we made hollow trellises which were superior to all concretes in all respects. And they weighed from 12 to 15 kg. When the late Heydar Aliyev visited an exhibition in what was then Kirovabad (Ganca) he was shown this project. Picking up this trellis he first thought it was heavy and then he realized that it was quite lightweight. All these achievements opened up the broadest opportunities. I can now recall no less than 10 million tonnes of waste products just lying there, and possibly with time there were even more. It's sad that the Ganca Alumina Refinery later switched just to the production of bauxite. The result was that the waste products from bauxite piled up on the valuable alunite waste.

- The development and production of the fields cannot proceed without serious damage to the environment. How can the development of the fields be sustained with minimum damage to the environment?

- The pollution of the environment caused by the extraction and processing of raw minerals is a very serious problem. The industrial appropriation of funds which was applied in Soviet times led to pollution of the environment. On a world scale about 120bn tonnes of raw materials are extracted from the earth every year. And the trend is such that every 10-12 years this figure will double. And of the raw material that is extracted a maximum of 10 per cent, perhaps less, is used. A considerable part of the raw material, once it has been extracted and treated, and with great expenditure of energy and labour, is thrown on to the surface of the earth, using up land that could be used for agriculture.

What impresses me is our Filizcay field. When it became known all over the country, a decision of the CPSU Central Committee was published on the use of this field and its being brought into industrial production. But along the way it came up against ecological problems. Because major metallurgical enterprises were already operating in the southern part of the USSR - in the North Caucasus and in Armenia - our field was regarded as their raw material supplier. It was assumed that as it developed the extracted ore and produced concentrate should be sent to the North Caucasus and Armenia, and the waste products would remain in Azerbaijan. But we didn't do that. After all, this field was situated in a unique ecological natural area - on the southern slopes of the Great Caucasus, in the region of Saki, Zaqatali and Balakan. So it was incorrect to regard it simply as a field. This unique site was faced with the threat of pollution. And at the time the opinion was expressed that this field should be developed using the very latest technology, which wasn't there at the time. Our republican leaders, aware of the whole problem linked with ecology and other serious things which invariably happened when using processing technology, began to put all kinds of obstacles in the way in an attempt to retract the process, and that's what they did. The field is now waiting its chance to be used.