Q4 and FY 2022 Production and Operations review

RNS Number : 7474M

Anglo Asian Mining PLC

16 January 2023

 

16 January 2023

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q4 and FY 2022 Production and Operations review

FY 2022 production of 57,618 gold equivalent ounces at the top end of guidance

Year-end cash of $20.3 million

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM-listed gold, copper and silver producer primarily operating in Azerbaijan, is pleased to provide an operational and production review for the fourth quarter ("Q4 2022") and twelve months to 31 December 2022 ("FY 2022").

Production

· Total FY 2022 production of 57,618 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs"), at top end of the 54,000 to 58,000 GEOs guidance (FY 2021: 64,610 GEOs)

· Q4 2022 production of 14,532 GEOs (Q4 2021: 15,949 GEOs)

Operations

· Significant progress made at Zafar, with a number of developments including

o Portal construction commenced

o Mine design almost finalised

o Underground mining fleet and ancillary equipment ordered

· Flotation plant expansion underway, which will double the processing capacity of the existing flotation plant and provide additional operational flexibility

o Equipment ordered for an additional flotation line to produce a zinc concentrate

o This expansion forms part of the Company's increase in throughput capacity in the short and medium term

· Mine development at Gilar is well underway

o Preliminary mineral resource published, yielding very encouraging results

o Construction of an exploration / development decline into the ore body has started, while targeted surface drilling continues

· Exploration of XarXar is ramping up

o Tunnelling into the mineral zone continues

o Surface drilling continues

Cash and inventory

· Cash of $20.3 million at 31 December 2022 (30 September 2022: $15.3 million), with the following significant payments made during Q4 2022:

o 2022 interim dividend of $4.6 million

o Initial payment for Zafar underground mining fleet of $0.5 million

· Inventory (at market value) of $3.6 million at 31 December 2022 (gold and silver bullion of $2.5 million and copper concentrate of $1.1 million)

Post-year end, the Company made its third investment in Libero Copper & Gold of CAN$390,000 (US$289,00) to maintain its 19.8 per cent. shareholding.

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented: "I am very pleased to report another important quarter and year for Anglo Asian. We have made significant progress at a number of assets, namely Zafar, Gilar and XarXar, which will be critical to providing production in the near-term. The expansion of our flotation plant will also provide significant operational flexibility as we ramp up production in the medium-term.

Following the acquisition of three new contract areas in mid-2021, the Company has been formulating a strategy to transition into a mid-tier, copper-focused miner, accelerating our production with the intention of capitalising on the global decarbonisation agenda. This strategy is within the final stages of its development, and I look forward to updating the market on this during Q1 2023."

Note that all references to "$" are to United States dollars and "CAN$" are to Canadian dollars. An exchange rate of US$1 = CAN$1.35 has been used throughout.

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:

Anglo Asian Mining plc
Reza Vaziri, Chief Executive Officer	Tel: [phone]
Bill Morgan, Chief Financial Officer	Tel: [phone]
Stephen Westhead, Vice President	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker) Ewan Leggat Adam Cowl	Tel: [phone]
Hudson Sandler (Financial PR) Charlie Jack Harry Griffiths	Tel: [phone]

Notes to editors

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

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. Two further follow-on investments have been made in Libero to maintain the Company's shareholding at 19.8 per cent.

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. https://www.angloasianmining.com/

Production and sales overview

Q4 2022 production

· Total production of 14,532 GEOs (Q4 2021: 15,949 GEOs), comprising of:

o  11,121 ounces of gold (Q4 2021: 11,589 ounces):

§ 10,437 ounces contained within gold doré

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

§ 645 ounces from flotation processing

o  624 tonnes of copper (Q4 2021: 743 tonnes):

§ 244 tonnes from SART processing

§ 380 tonnes from flotation processing

o  37,378 ounces of silver (Q4 2021: 38,673 ounces):

§ 4,820 ounces contained within gold doré

§ 20,833 ounces from SART processing

§ 11,725 ounces from flotation processing

FY 2022 production

· Total production of 57,618 GEOs (FY 2021: 64,610 GEOs), including:

o  43,114 ounces of gold (FY 2021: 48,680 ounces)

o  2,516 tonnes of copper (FY 2021: 2,649 tonnes)

o  182,046 ounces of silver (FY 2021: 154,515 ounces)

Q4 2022 Sales

· Q4 2022 gold bullion sales of 13,645 ounces at an average of $1,727 per ounce (Q4 2021: 13,153 ounces sold at an average of $1,825 per ounce)

· Q4 2022 copper concentrate shipments totalled 4,606 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $7.5 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q4 2021: 4,132 dmt with a sales value of $8.9 million)

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the 12 months to 31 December 2022:

	9 months to 30 September 2022		3 months to 31 December 2022		12 months to  31 December 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	1,276,286	0.46	429,051	0.51	1,705,337	0.47
Gadir - u/g	100,459	1.42	36,256	1.39	136,715	1.41
Gedabek - u/g	299,866	1.33	74,049	1.18	373,915	1.30
Total	1,676,611	0.67	539,356	0.66	2,215,967	0.67

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching for FY 2021 and 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	299,762	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

* includes previously heap leached ore.

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

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2021 and 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
31 December 2022	10,437			4,820		13,645	1,727
H2 2022	20,910			11,769		23,645	1,727
FY 2022	40,010			26,963		34,918	1,783
Note

* 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 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
31 Dec 2022	5,831	4,606	10,437	2,684	2,136	4,820
H2 2022	11,348	9,562	20,910	6,357	5,412	11,769
FY 2022	23,218	16,792	40,010	15,814	11,139	26,963

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2021 and 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	25,114
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

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 2022. Note that sales of concentrates are initially recorded as 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	30,449	-	-
30 June 2021	3,164	695	551	37,644	3,467	9,066
H1 2021	6,012	1,333	917	68,093	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	132,775	11,148	23,719
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
H1 2022	7,043	1,283	1,806	84,354	6,119	11,375
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
H2 2022	6,258	1,233	1,298	70,729	6,324	10,865
FY 2022	13,301	2,516	3,104	155,083	12,443	22,240

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

**ENDS**

 

END

 

 

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