Q3 and 9M 2023 Production and Operations review

Anglo Asian Mining PLC

16 October 2023

 

16 October 2023

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q3 and 9M 2023 Production and Operations review

Gedabek set to fully resume operations following environmental inspection

Gross cash of $10.8 million (net cash of $1.6 million) at 30 September 2023

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM-listed gold, copper and silver producer operating in Azerbaijan, provides a production, sales and operations review for the three and nine months to 30 September 2023 ("Q3 2023" and "9M 2023" respectively).

Operational update

·  Flotation processing and agitation leaching have been suspended since the beginning of August 2023

o Heap leaching continued throughout Q3 2023

o Environmental report by Micon International Co Limited ("Micon") released in September 2023, showing no environmental contamination at Gedabek

o Formal protocol to restart operations now being agreed with the Government of Azerbaijan

·    Extensive plant maintenance carried out during Q3 2023

Production update

·    Q3 2023 production of 5,295 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") (Q3 2022: 14,309 GEOs)

·    9M 2023 total production of 28,686 GEOs (9M 2022: 43,081 GEOs)

·   Updated Full Year 2023 ("FY 2023") production guidance of 30,000 to 34,000 GEOs issued with the interim results

o Assumes no flotation and agitation leaching production for the rest of 2023

o Guidance will be updated if flotation and agitation production is restarted before the end of the year

Cash and inventory update

·  Net cash of $1.6 million at 30 September 2023 (30 June 2023: $9.6 million) with the following payments made in Q3 2023

o $4.6 million payment of final dividend for 2022

·    Gross cash of $10.8 million at 30 September 2023

o $3.5 million loan drawn down from International Bank of Azerbaijan in early July 2023

o $5.7 million loan drawn down from Access Bank in August 2023

·  $10 million tranche drawn down from the International Bank of Azerbaijan under the Company's revolving credit facility in early October 2023

·   The Company had inventory at market value of $7.0 million at 30 September 2023 (gold and silver bullion of $5.9 million and copper concentrate of $1.1 million)

·   1,000 ounces of gold bullion sold in Q3 2023 at an average price of $1,959 per ounce under the gold hedging programmes yielding additional sales revenue of $27,075

o Total gold bullion sales in Q3 2023 of 2,900 ounces at an average of $1,949 per ounce

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:

"This was a challenging quarter for the Company with operations impacted by the environmental inspection that was ordered by the Government of Azerbaijan.  Our focus was to fully cooperate with the government and ensure the environmental inspection was carried out properly.  

The inspection's findings highlighted areas for improvement regarding Company response systems, resources and protocols. We are now working with the government to ensure these issues are very quickly addressed. Nevertheless, we were pleased that allegations of environmental contamination were proved to be without merit with the report recognising the Company operates within accepted high industry standards and guidelines. We look forward to updating the market in due course regarding the resumption of agitation leaching and flotation processing at Gedabek and progress against our stated growth strategy."

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:

Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer with a high-quality portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company produced 57,618 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") for the year ended 31 December 2022. 

On 30 March 2023, the Company published its strategic plan for growth which shows a clearly defined path for the Company to transition to a multi-asset, mid-tier copper and gold producer by 2028, by which time copper will be the principal product of the Company, with forecast production of around 36,000 copper equivalent tonnes. It plans to achieve this growth by bringing into production four new mines during the period 2024 to 2028 at Zafar, Gilar, Xarxar and Garadag. 

The Company owns approximately 17.4 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. 

https://www.angloasianmining.com/

Production overview

Q3 2023

·    Total production of 5,295 GEOs (Q3 2022: 14,309 GEOs)

·    Gold production of 4,163 ounces (Q3 2022: 11,087 ounces):

o 4,008 ounces contained within gold doré

o 4 ounces from sulfidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening ("SART") processing

o 151 ounces from flotation processing

·    Copper production totalled 251 tonnes (Q3 2022: 609 tonnes):

o 44 tonnes from SART processing

o 207 tonnes from flotation processing

·    Silver production totalled 5,696 ounces (Q3 2022: 45,063 ounces):

o 1,490 ounces contained within gold doré

o 2,232 ounces from SART processing

o 1,974 ounces from flotation processing

9M 2023

·    Total production of 28,686 GEOs (9M 2022: 43,081 GEOs)

·    Gold production of 18,771 ounces (9M 2022: 31,993 ounces)

·    Copper production totalled 2,111 tonnes (9M 2022: 1,892 tonnes)

·    Silver production totalled 50,272 ounces (9M 2022: 144,562 ounces)

Sales

·   Q3 2023 gold bullion sales of 2,900 ounces at an average of $1,949 per ounce (Q3 2022: 10,000 ounces sold at an average of $1,727 per ounce)

·   Q3 2023 copper concentrate shipments totalled 2,358 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $3.1 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q3 2022: 1,718 dmt with a sales value of $3.4 million)

Company financials

·   The Company had net cash of $1.6 million at 30 September 2023 ($9.6 million at 30 June 2023). The Company made the following payments in Q3 2022

o Final dividend for 2022: $4.6 million

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the nine months to 30 September 2023:

	6 months to 30 June 2023		3 months to 30 September 2023		9 months to  30 September 2023
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	1,006,483	0.35	72,819	0.32	1,079,302	0.35
Gadir - u/g	85,201	1.59	8,424	2.34	93,625	1.65
Total	1,091,684	0.45	81,243	0.53	1,172,927	0.45

* 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 for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

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 2022	115,173	273,577	144,275	0.75	0.48	1.63
30 June 2022	82,814	299,762	162,239	0.78	0.53	1.40
30 September 2022	92,398	302,714	162,669	0.81	0.57	1.42
31 December 2022	24,606	213,120	156,285	0.72	0.56	1.42
FY 2022	314,991	1,089,173	625,468	0.77	0.56	1.43
31 March 2023	94,518	196,595	62,006	0.74	0.49	1.3
30 June 2023	56,522	202,788	105,213	0.75	0.46	1.4
H1 2023	151,040	399,383	167,219	0.75	0.49	1.4
30 September 2023	25,690	34,621	-	0.83	0.45	-

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023: 

Quarter ended	Ore processed	Gold content	Silver content	Copper content
	(tonnes)	(ounces)	(ounces)	(tonnes)
31 March 2022	104,475	1,921	33,522	577
30 June 2022	114,099	1,293	24,209	745
30 September 2022	143,838	1,314	24,582	724
31 December 2022	119,819	1,389	18,003	670
FY 2022	482,231	5,917	100,316	2,716
31 March 2023	192,516	1,487	19,787	1,133
30 June 2023	190,593	1,033	10,380	1,191
H1 2023	383,109	2,520	30,167	2,324
30 September 2023	62,369	478	4,358	363

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

Quarter ended Gold produced* (ounces) Silver produced* (ounces) Gold sales** (ounces) Gold Sales price ($/ounce) 31 March 2022 8,963 7,574 7,519 1,904 30 June 2022 10,137 7,620 3,754 1,895 30 September 2022 10,473 6,949 10,000 1,727 31 December 2022 10,437 4,820 13,645 1,727 FY 2022 40,010 26,963 34,918 1,783 31 March 2023 5,965 2,841 5,719 1,895 30 June 2023 7,375 3,593 4,787 1,992 H1 2023 13,340 6,434 10,506 1,939 30 September 2023 4,008 1,490 2,900 1,949 Notes

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excluding Government of Azerbaijan's share

The gold and silver production from agitation and heap leaching for FY 2022 Q1 to Q3 2023 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
30 Sept 2022	5,517	4,956	10,473	3,673	3,276	6,949
31 Dec 2022	5,831	4,606	10,437	2,684	2,136	4,820
FY 2022	23,218	16,792	40,010	15,814	11,139	26,963
31 March 2023	2,105	3,860	5,965	1,077	1,764	2,841
30 June 2023	3,463	3,912	7,375	1,735	1,858	3,593
H1 2023	5,568	7,772	13,340	2,812	3,622	6,434
30 Sept 2023	-	4,008	4,008	-	1,490	1,490

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

	Concentrate	Copper	Gold	Silver
	production*	content*	content*	content*
	(dmt)	(tonnes)	(ounces)	(ounces)
2022
Quarter ended 31 March
SART processing	330	188	12	25,114
Flotation	2,586	380	1,065	17,986
Total	2,916	568	1,077	43,100
Quarter ended 30 June
SART processing	316	168	14	25,582
Flotation	3,811	547	715	15,672
Total	4,127	715	729	41,254
Quarter ended 30 September
SART processing	367	208	33	24,077
Flotation	2,805	401	581	14,094
Total	3,172	609	614	38,171
Quarter ended 31 December
SART processing	438	244	39	20,833
Flotation	2,648	380	645	11,725
Total	3,086	624	684	32,558
2023
Quarter ended 31 March
SART processing	364	190	25	8,750
Flotation	4,544	657	751	10,975
Total	4,908	847	776	19,725
Quarter ended 30 June
SART processing	272	146	16	10,348
Flotation	5,613	867	476	8,069
Total	5,885	1,013	492	18,417
Quarter ended 30 September
SART processing	85	44	4	2,232
Flotation	1,316	207	151	1,974
Total	1,401	251	155	4,206

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 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023. 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 2022	2,916	568	1,077	43,100	1,477	3,248
30 June 2022	4,127	715	729	41,254	4,642	8,127
30 September 2022	3,172	609	614	38,171	1,718	3,378
31 December 2022	3,086	624	684	32,558	4,606	7,487
FY 2022	13,301	2,516	3,104	155,083	12,443	22,240
31 March 2023	4,908	847	776	19,725	1,147	2,743
30 June 2023	5,885	1,013	492	18,417	5,501	7,678
H1 2023	10,793	1,860	1,268	38,142	6,648	10,421
30 September 2023	1,401	251	155	4,206	2,358	3,066

 Notes

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

**ENDS**

 

END