Q2 & H1 2022 Production and Operations review

RNS Number : 4124S

Anglo Asian Mining PLC

14 July 2022

 

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

14 July 2022

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q2 & H1 2022 Production and Operations review

Production of 15,052 gold equivalent ounces in Q2 2022

Parliamentary ratification granted for three new Contract Areas

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM listed gold, copper and silver producer focused in Azerbaijan, is pleased to provide a production, sales and operations review for the three months to 30 June 2022 ("Q2 2022") and six months to 30 June 2022 ("H1 2022").

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

Operational update

· On 5 July 2022, amendments to the Company's Production Sharing Agreement were signed into law granting the Company three new Contract Areas as announced on 29 September 2021

o Xarxar, Garadagh and Demirli, the three new Contract Areas, cover a combined area of 882 square kilometres

Q2 2022 Production update

· Gold production totalled 10,866 ounces (Q2 2021: 12,340 ounces)

· Copper production totalled 715 tonnes (Q2 2021: 695 tonnes)

· Silver production totalled 48,810 ounces (Q2 2021: 43,565 ounces)

· Total production of 15,052 GEOs (Q2 2021: 16,740 GEOs)

H1 2022 Production update

· Gold production totalled 20,906 ounces (H1 2021: 24,247 ounces)

· Copper production totalled 1,283 tonnes (H1 2021: 1,333 tonnes)

· Silver production totalled 99,499 ounces (H1 2021: 78,980 ounces)

· Total production of 28,772 GEOs (H1 2021: 32,171 GEOs)

Q2 2022 sales and cash update

· Cash of $21.1 million at 30 June 2022 (31 March 2022: $29.4 million)

· Inventory valued at $15.6 million as at 30 June 2022 (7,000 ounces of gold valued at $12.7 million and copper concentrate valued at $2.9 million)

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

"We are delighted to have received Parliamentary Ratification for the new contract areas in early July, allowing our team access to the Garadagh and Xarxar sites. We are now working on our three-year production plan and to summarise our resources. The three new contract areas transform our asset base, and we are excited to begin our transition into a copper focused miner.

"We are also pleased to have reported solid rates of production during quarter two and the first half of 2022, with quarter two being slightly above quarter one and both generally being consistent with last year. This is despite lower grades at Gedabek due to the resource nearing the end of its life.

"The Company remains focused on developing Vejnaly and the Hasan vein at Gosha, both of which we anticipate entering production in H2 2022, as well as bringing the major new mine at Zafer into production in 2023."

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	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker	Tel: [phone]
Adam Cowl	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker	Tel + 44 (0) 20 3470 0470
Charlie Jack	Hudson Sandler	Tel: [phone]
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"). 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/

Appendix

Q2 2022 Production Overview

· Total production of 15,052 GEOs (Q2 2021: 16,740 GEOs)

· Gold production totalled 10,866 ounces (Q2 2021: 12,340 ounces):

o 10,137 ounces contained within gold doré

o 14 ounces from SART processing

o  715 ounces from flotation

· Copper production totalled 715 tonnes (Q2 2021: 695 tonnes):

o  168 tonnes from SART processing

o  547 tonnes from flotation processing

· Silver production totalled 48,810 ounces (Q2 2021: 43,565 ounces):

o  7,620 ounces contained within gold doré

o 25,548 ounces from SART processing

o 15,642 ounces from flotation

H1 2022 Production Overview

· Total production of 28,772 GEOs (H1 2021: 32,171 GEOs)

· Gold production totalled 20,906 ounces (H1 2021: 24,247 ounces):

o 19,100 ounces contained within gold doré

o 26 ounces from SART processing

o  1,780 ounces from flotation

· Copper production totalled 1,283 tonnes (H1 2021: 1,333 tonnes):

o  356 tonnes from SART processing

o  927 tonnes from flotation processing

· Silver production totalled 99,499 ounces (H1 2021: 78,980 ounces):

o  15,194 ounces contained within gold doré

o 50,656 ounces from SART processing

o 33,649 ounces from flotation

Operations Review

The Company mined the following ore in the six months ended 30 June 2022:

	12 months to  31 December 2021		3 months to 31 March 2022		3 months to 30 June 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	1,815,857	0.74	469,500	0.52	441,041	0.47
Gadir - u/g	115,943	1.91	30,712	1.44	36,295	1.43
Gedabek - u/g	248,792	1.42	77,937	1.60	111,827	1.25
Total	2,180,592	0.80	578,149	0.71	589,163	0.68

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching for FY 2021 and H1 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

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation for FY 2021 and H1 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

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2021 and H1 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 Sept 2021	12,314			5,473		6,828		1,815
31 Dec 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
Note

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excluding Government of Azerbaijan's share

Gold and silver production from agitation and heap leaching for H1 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

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2021 and H1 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 Sept
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

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 H1 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 Sept 2021	3,103	573	530	31,439	3,549	5,712
31 Dec 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 2021	7,043	1,283	1,806	84,305	6,119	11,375

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

 

END

 

 

DRLFFFLIDLIVLIF