page_title: Mineral industry of Armenia
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Mineral industry of Armenia / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: The copper smelter in the town of Alaverdi in Armenia's northern province of Lori.
context_page_description: The mineral industry is one of the main sectors of the Armenian economy and in 2017 accounted for 30.1% of its exports.
  Armenia is a major producer of molybdenum, which is used in some high-quality forms of steel, and other alloys. The Zangezur copper-molybdenum complex possesses large molybdenum reserves that are concentrated in the Kajaran deposit. Besides molybdenum, Armenia has significant deposits of copper and gold; smaller deposits of lead, silver, and zinc; and deposits of industrial minerals, including basalt, diatomite, granite, gypsum, limestone, and perlite.
context_section_description: In 2017 mining industry output with grew by 14.2% to 172 billion AMD at current prices and run at 3.1% of Armenia's GDP.
  In spite of the global economic crisis of 2008, mining production and revenues grew significantly in 2009 due to a rise in global prices of copper, gold, and other base metals.
  In 2005, seventeen mining and metallurgical enterprises were in operation; the largest enterprises mined copper and molybdenum ore or extracted gold from tailings. The country also produced aluminum foil based on raw materials imported from Russia and had a diamond cutting industry using imported raw materials. The country had almost no domestic fuel production and relied for electric power on a nuclear powerplant and hydroelectric plants. It imported fuel for its nuclear powerplant and natural gas from Russia.
  The value of mineral production in 2005 totaled $180 million or about 5% of the gross domestic product(GDP). Mining and nonferrous metallurgy accounted for 55% of the value of industrial production. The mineral sector accounted for 11% of the value of the country's capital stock.
  In 2005, in the aggregate, the volume of metallic ores mined decreased although nonmetallic ore production increased. The volume of output in both the ferrous and nonferrous metallurgical sectors increased compared with output in 2004. The output volume of individual mineral commodities with respect to output in 2004 varied by commodity.
caption: The copper smelter at Alaverdi in Armenia's northern Lori province
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