Expansion of flotation plant

RNS Number : 1234H

Anglo Asian Mining PLC

22 November 2022

 

  22 November 2022

Anglo Asian Mining PLC

Expansion of flotation plant

Capacity will double from 80 to 160 tonnes per hour from Q3 2023

Anglo Asian Mining PLC ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM listed gold, copper and silver producer focused in Azerbaijan, is pleased to announce the start of an expansion of its flotation plant, which will be doubled in capacity, and provide additional operational flexibility.

The expansion forms part of Anglo Asian's increase in throughput capacity to process ore from new mines in the short and medium term. This will begin with Zafar, which is due to commence production in H2 2023. It will support the Company's ambition to become a mid-tier miner producing over 100,000 gold equivalent ounces per annum.

The total cost of the expansion has been estimated at $2.5 million, which will be paid from the Company's existing cash resources.

Reza Vaziri, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo Asian, commented:

"Anglo Asian is at the beginning of its next phase of growth, as we prepare to bring a number of new mines into production. The development of our medium-term growth strategy is well underway and we need to increase our processing capabilities to accommodate additional ore production.

"This expansion is an important step in the Company's preparation for our new mines entering production. The mine design at Zafar is well advanced and production will commence in H2 2023. This increase in production capacity is a critical part in enabling Anglo Asian to achieve mid-tier production status in due course."

Details of the expansion of the flotation plant

Anglo Asian's flotation plant opened in 2015 to produce copper concentrate as the Company was mining ore with increasing amounts of copper. The flotation plant is located at its Gedabek site, next to its agitation leaching plant. The plant currently contains six 50 cubic metre rougher/scavenger cells and twelve 5 cubic metre cleaner cells, a thickener and a filter press. The plant is fed ore crushed by a dedicated SAG mill and ball mill combination.  

Maelgwyn Mineral Services will supply an additional three rougher/scavenger cells and four cleaner cells. They use "Imhoflot" pneumatic flotation technology, which requires less energy and offers better recoveries than traditional tank cells and flotation columns. The cost of the new cells including instrumentation and spares is approximately $1 million.

One Imhoflot cell has been under test at Gedabek since April 2022 and it has produced excellent results. The additional flotation line will increase the flexibility of the plant and enable the production of an intermediate copper concentrate, followed by a final zinc concentrate as a by-product. The crushing circuit of the current agitation leaching plant will be used to provide the additional crushing capacity required for the expanded flotation plant.

Yon İ Ve Dı Ticaret Pazarlama Limited Şirketih (a Turkish contractor) will supply a new thickener and filter press for the new flotation line at a cost of approximately $0.5 million. The only additional equipment required to complete the installation will be pumps, electrical panels and some minor ancillary items. The building housing the existing flotation line will also require some modification, but no increase in size.

Note that all references to "$" are the United States dollars.

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: [phone]
Bill Morgan	Anglo Asian Mining plc	Tel: [phone]
Stephen Westhead	Anglo Asian Mining plc	Tel: [phone]
Ewan Leggat Adam Cowl	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker	Tel: [phone]
Charlie Jack Harry Griffiths	Hudson Sandler	Tel: [phone]

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"). 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 Parliament of Azerbaijan ratified amendments to the Company's Production Sharing Agreement, which granted it legal title to three additional concessions with a combined area of 882 square kilometres, including the Garadagh porphyry copper deposit, with a Soviet classified resource of over 300,000 tonnes of copper.

 

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