Gordon Tainton

President & CEO, Azarga Metals

Search every verified Gordon Tainton interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a September 2021 interview, Gordon Tainton, President and CEO of Azarga Metals, discussed the company's progress on the Unkur copper-silver project in eastern Russia. He stated that the company had completed an updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the project, which proposed an average annual production of 11,700 tons of copper and 2.9 million ounces of silver in concentrate over a mine life of more than 14 years. Tainton noted that the project is located 30 kilometers from the world's third largest known copper deposit and has access to both Far Eastern and Chinese markets via the Baikal-Amur Mainline railway. Tainton also described the regulatory environment for mining in Russia as "rigid," explaining that the company must work within protocols set by federal agencies such as Rosnedra and the State Commission for Reserves. He said Azarga Metals would present cut-off grade estimates to obtain a resource approval, which would allow further exploration toward a feasibility study and eventual mining permit application. Tainton indicated that concentrate sales to Asian markets, including Japan, Korea, and China, were a logical path forward for the project.