RNS Number : 7158CAnglo Asian Mining PLC13 October 2022

Anglo Asian Mining plc / Ticker: AAZ / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

13 October 2022

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q3 and 9M 2022 Production and Operations review

Production of 14,309 gold equivalent ounces in Q3 2022

Cash of $15.3 million at 30 September 2022

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM-listed gold, copper and silver producer operating in Azerbaijan, is pleased to provide a production, sales and operations review for the three and nine months to 30 September 2022 ("Q3 2022" and "9M 2022" respectively).

Operational update

·   Transformational acquisition of rights to three new concessions with significant copper reserves was passed into law on 5 July 2022

·   Zafar mine design has advanced well

oPortal location has been identified close to the processing facilities

oGeotechnical drilling is complete, with drill core testing underway

oUnderground mining fleet and ancillary equipment have been selected for purchase

Production update

·   Q3 2022 production of 14,309 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") (Q3 2021: 16,316 GEOs)

·   9M 2022 total production of 43,081 GEOs (9M 2021: 48,487 GEOs)

·   Full Year 2022 ("FY 2022") production guidanceof 54,000 to 58,000 GEOs maintained

Cash and inventory update

·   Cash of $15.3 million at 30 September 2022 (30 June 2022: $21.2 million) with the following payments made in Q3 2022

oFinal 2021 dividend of $4.0 million

oProfits tax of $0.3 million

oFurther investment of $0.8 million in Libero Copper & Gold Corporation

o$1.2 million paid for the acquisition of exploration data and associated studies and reports relating to Garadagh and Xarxar from AzerGold

·  An interim dividend for 2022 of US 4 cents (Sterling3.5559 pence) per ordinary share will be paid gross to shareholders on 3 November 2022

·   The Company had inventory at market value of $15.5 million at 30 September 2022 (gold and silver bullion of $11.8 million and copper concentrate of $3.7 million)

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:

"The Company is delighted to report a good third quarter and year to date performance. Production figures remain robust, with total production of 14,309 gold equivalent ounces in the quarter, which remains largely in line with the output in the same period in the previous year. Copper production totalled 609 tonnes and silver totalled 45,063 ounces, an increase in production relative to the prior year period.

"We are also pleased to report an excellent advancement of the new mine at Zafar. Geotechnical drilling is complete, and the drill core is now in the process of being tested. We remain on track to bring Zafar into production in 2023.

"We look forward to updating the market on our strategy for developing of our new mines and the three new license areas in due course."

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, which was incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

For further information please contact:

Reza Vaziri

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Tel: +994 12 596 3350

Bill Morgan

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Tel: +994 502 910 400

Stephen Westhead

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Tel: +994 502 916 894

Ewan Leggat

Adam Cowl

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP

Nominated Adviser and Broker

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

Charlie Jack

Harry Griffiths

Hudson Sandler

Tel:+44(0)20 7796 4133

Notes to editors:

Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company produced 64,610 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") for the year ended 31 December 2021.  

In December 2021, the Company undertook a private placement which acquired 19.8 per cent. of Libero Copper & Gold Corporation ("Libero"). The transaction was completed in January 2022. Libero is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada and owns, or has the option to acquire, several copper exploration properties in North and South America, including Mocoa in Colombia, one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-molybdenum resources.    

On 5 July 2022, the Government of Azerbaijan ratified amendments to its Production Sharing Agreement, granting Anglo Asian three additional concessions totalling a combined area of 882 square kilometres. This includes the Garadagh porphyry copper deposit, with a Soviet classified resource of over 300,000 tonnes of copper. The acquisition of these concessions is transformational to Anglo Asian's asset portfolio and underpins the strategic target of transitioning into a mid-tier copper focused miner.

https://www.angloasianmining.com/

Production overview

Q3 2022

·   Total production of 14,309 GEOs (Q3 2021: 16,316 GEOs)

·   Gold production of 11,087 ounces (Q3 2021: 12,847 ounces):

o10,473 ounces contained within gold doré

o33 ounces from sulfidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening ("SART") processing

o581 ounces from flotation processing

·   Copper production totalled 609 tonnes (Q3 2021: 573 tonnes):

o208 tonnes from SART processing

o401 tonnes from flotation processing

·   Silver production totalled 45,063 ounces (Q3 2021: 36,912 ounces):

o6,949 ounces contained within gold doré

o24,020 ounces from SART processing

o14,094 ounces from flotation processing

9M 2022

·   Total production of 43,081 GEOs (9M 2021: 48,487 GEOs)

·   Gold production of 31,993 ounces (9M 2021: 37,096 ounces)

·   Copper production totalled 1,892 tonnes (9M 2021: 1,906 tonnes)

·   Silver production totalled 144,562 ounces (9M 2021: 115,843 ounces)

Sales

·   Q3 2022 gold bullion sales of 10,000 ounces at an average of $1,727 per ounce (Q3 2021: 6,828 ounces sold at an average of $1,815 per ounce)

·   Q3 2022 copper concentrate shipments totalled 1,618 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $3.1 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q3 2021: 3,549 dmt with a sales value of $5.7 million)

Company financials

·   The Company had cash of $15.3 million at 30 September 2022 ($21.2 million at 30 June 2022). The Company made the following payments in Q3 2022

oFinal dividend for 2021: $4.0 million

oProfits tax: $0.3 million

oFurther investment in Libero Copper & Gold Corporation: $0.8 million

oData purchase from AzerGold: $1.2 million

Zafar mine update

·   Mine design and geotechnical sampling for construction planning is well advanced for the Zafar mine

·   A site for the portal has been identified close to the Company's existing processing facilities and about 1,000 metres from the planned underground gallery. Geotechnical drilling has been completed and the drill core is now being tested

·  Underground mining equipment has been selected with the major drilling equipment being supplied by Epiroc and the mining and loading equipment being supplied by Caterpillar. The procurement of auxiliary and support is also well advanced from regional suppliers mainly located in Turkey

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the nine months to 30 September 2022:


6 months to

30 June 2022*

3 months to

30 September 2022

9 months to

 30 September 2022

Mine

Ore mined

Average

gold grade

Ore mined

Average

gold grade

Ore mined

Average

gold grade

(tonnes)

(g/t)

(tonnes)

(g/t)

(tonnes)

(g/t)

Open pit

910,541

0.50

360,730

0.36

1,277,271

0.46

Gadir - u/g

67,007

1.43

33,452

1.39

100,459

1.42

Gedabek - u/g

189,764

1.24

110,102

1.12

299,866

1.19

Total

1,167,312

0.67

504,284

0.59

1,677,596

0.65

* There have been some minor changes to the previously reported figures following the reconciliation of ore stockpiles.

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching forFY 2021 and Q1 to Q3 2022:

Quarter ended

Ore processed

Gold grade of ore processed


Heap leach pad crushed ore

(tonnes)

Heap leach pad ROM

ore

(tonnes)

Agitation leaching

plant*

(tonnes)

Heap leach pad crushed ore

(g/t)

Heap leach pad ROM

ore

(g/t)

Agitation leaching

plant*

(g/t)

31 March 2021

110,612

258,097

154,373

0.90

0.61

1.92

30 June 2021

154,619

177,369

164,288

0.81

0.59

1.64

30 September 2021

154,112

194,816

171,029

0.79

0.51

1.65

31 December 2021

113,623

309,374

151,701

0.68

0.49

1.53

FY 2021

532,966

939,656

641,391

0.80

0.54

1.68

31 March 2022

115,173

273,577

144,275

0.75

0.48

1.63

30 June 2022

82,814

 299,168

162,239

0.78

0.53

1.4

H1 2022

197,987

572,745

306,514

0.76

0.51

1.48

30 September 2022

92,398

302,714

162,669

0.81

0.57

1.42

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation forFY 2021 and Q1 to Q3 2022: 

Quarter ended

Ore processed

Gold content

Silver content

Copper content

(tonnes)

(ounces)

(ounces)

(tonnes)

31 March 2021

111,060

920

15,782

652

30 June 2021

116,910

1,251

23,870

596

30 September 2021

121,283

1,231

19,939

519

31 December 2021

129,384

1,856

28,480

762

FY 2021

478,637

5,258

88,071

2,529

31 March 2022

104,475

1,921

33,522

577

30 June 2022

114,099

1,293

24,209

745

H1 2022

218,574

3,214

57,731

1,322

30 September 2022

150,867

1,314

18,141

724

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2021 and Q1 to Q3 2022:

Quarter ended

Gold produced*

(ounces)

Silver

produced*

(ounces)

Gold sales**

(ounces)

Gold Sales price

($/ounce)






31 March 2021

11,541

4,916

5,635

1,697

30 June 2021

11,789

5,921

13,947

1,808

H1 2021

23,330

10,837

19,582

1,776

30 September 2021

12,314

5,473

6,828

1,815

31 December 2021

10,561

5,430

13,153

1,825

H2 2021

22,875

10,903

19,981

1,821

FY 2021

46,205

21,740

39,563

1,799

31 March 2022

8,963

7,574

7,519

1,904

30 June 2022

10,137

7,620

3,754

1,895

H1 2022

19,100

15,194

11,273

1,901

30 September 2022

10,473

6,949

10,000

1,727

Note


* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excluding Government of Azerbaijan's share

The gold and silver productionfrom agitation and heap leaching for Q3 2022 is as follows:

Quarter

ended

Gold

Silver

Agitation

leaching

(ounces)

Heap

leaching

(ounces)

Total

(ounces)

Agitation

leaching

(ounces)

Heap

leaching

(ounces)

Total

(ounces)

31 March 2022

5,674

3,289

8,963

4,803

2,771

7,574

30 June 2022

6,196

3,941

10,137

4,654

2,966

7,620

H1 2022

11,870

7,230

19,100

9,457

5,737

15,194

30 Sept 2022

5,517

4,956

10,473

3,673

3,276

6,949

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2021 and Q1 to Q3 2022:


Concentrate

Copper

Gold

Silver

production*

content*

content*

content*

(dmt)

(tonnes)

(ounces)

(ounces)

2021

Quarter ended 31 March

SART processing

473

276

13

19,850

Flotation

2,375

362

353

10,599

Total

2,848

638

366

30,449

Quarter ended 30 June

SART processing

512

301

12

22,428

Flotation

2,652

394

539

15,216

Total

3,164

695

551

37,644

Quarter ended 30 September

SART processing

503

265

13

19,526

Flotation

2,600

308

517

11,913

Total

3,103

573

530

31,439

Quarter ended 31 December

SART processing

338

193

16

16,414

Flotation

3,584

550

1,012

16,829

Total

3,922

743

1,028

33,243

2022

Quarter ended 31 March

SART processing

330

188

12

25,108

Flotation

2,586

380

1,065

18,007

Total

2,916

568

1,077

43,115

Quarter ended 30 June

SART processing

316

168

14

25,548

Flotation

3,811

547

715

15,642

Total

4,127

715

729

41,190

Quarter ended 30 September

SART processing

367

208

33

24,020

Flotation

2,805

401

581

14,094

Total

3,172

609

614

38,114

Note

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share.

Certain amounts for SART and flotation production may differ to those previously disclosed due to final reconciliation of production.

The following table summarises total copper concentrate production and sales for FY 2021 and Q1 to Q3 2022. Note that sales of concentrates are initially recorded at provisional amounts until agreement of final assay.


Concentrate

Copper

Gold

Silver

Concentrate

Concentrate

production*

content*

content*

content*

sales**

sales**

(dmt)

(tonnes)

(ounces)

(ounces)

(dmt)

($000)

Quarter ended

31 March 2021

2,848

638

366

30,499

-

-

30 June 2021

3,164

695

551

37,644

3,467

9,066

H1 2021

6,012

1,333

917

68,143

3,467

9,066

30 September 2021

3,103

573

530

31,439

3,549

5,712

31 December 2021

3,922

743

1,028

33,243

4,132

8,941

H2 2021

7,025

1,316

1,558

64,682

7,681

14,653

FY 2021

13,037

2,649

2,475

132,825

11,148

23,719








31 March 2022

2,916

568

1,077

43,115

1,477

3,248

30 June 2022

4,127

715

729

41,190

4,642

8,127

H2 2022

7,043

1,283

1,806

84,305

6,119

11,375

30 September 2022

3,172

609

614

38,114

1,718

3,378

* includingGovernment of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

**ENDS**

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