2018 Operations Update

RNS Number : 5506M

Central Asia Metals PLC

09 January 2019

 

9 January 2019

CENTRAL ASIA METALS PLC

('CAML' or the 'Company')

2018 Operations Update

Central Asia Metals plc (AIM: CAML) today provides a Q4 and full year 2018 operations update for the Kounrad dump leach, solvent extraction and electro-winning ('SX-EW') copper recovery plant in Kazakhstan ('Kounrad') and the Sasa zinc-lead mine in Macedonia ('Sasa').

Highlights

-      Production guidance met for copper, zinc and lead

-      2018 Kounrad

o  Copper produced, 14,049 tonnes

-      2018 Sasa

o  Zinc in concentrate produced, 22,532 tonnes

o  Lead in concentrate produced, 29,388 tonnes

o  Diamond drilling exploration programme completed with updated mineral resource estimate expected in Q1 2019

-      2019 production guidance

o  Copper, 12,500 to 13,500 tonnes

o  Zinc in concentrate, 22,000 to 24,000 tonnes

o  Lead in concentrate, 28,000 to 30,000 tonnes

-      Cash in the bank on 31 December 2018, $39 million

CAML production summary

Metal production (tonnes)	Q4 2018	2018	2017*
Copper	3,363	14,049	14,103
Zinc	5,769	22,532	21,585
Lead	7,401	29,388	29,881

* CAML owned Sasa for only two months of 2017

Nigel Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"2018 has been transformational for us, as we have operated both of our assets for a full year, meeting our production targets for the three base metals - copper, zinc and lead.

"We are also encouraged by the results of the exploration drilling at Sasa and look forward to demonstrating the overall outcome of this work in an updated JORC compliant mineral resource estimate during the current quarter. 

"While we encountered copper mineralisation at Shuak, we believe that this is unlikely to be sufficiently material in terms of scale for us to develop. However, our business development activities gathered momentum during the second half of 2018 and we have been encouraged by some of the opportunities that we have reviewed.

"Our 2018 annual results are scheduled to be released on 10 April 2019, when our final dividend for 2018 will also be announced."

Kounrad

Kounrad Q4 2018 copper production of 3,363 tonnes brings output for 2018 to 14,049 tonnes. Total Kounrad copper production since operations commenced in 2012 is now 82,474 tonnes.  

Total copper recovered from the Western Dumps in 2018 is 8,980 tonnes, equating to approximately 64% of the amount plated.

Copper sales during Q4 2018 were 4,411 tonnes, bringing the total for the year to 14,081 tonnes. As at 31 December 2018, copper stocks at Kounrad were reduced to 28 tonnes.

Sasa

Production and sales

In Q4 2018, mined and processed ore were 205,762 tonnes and 205,130 tonnes respectively, bringing the total for 2018 to 803,101 tonnes of ore mined and 804,749 tonnes of ore processed. The average head grades for the Q4 2018 period were 3.31% zinc and 3.86% lead, and for the year were on average 3.31% and 3.90% respectively. Q4 metallurgical recoveries were 85.0% for zinc and 93.4% for lead, and for the year were on average 84.6% and 93.6% respectively.

Sasa produces a zinc concentrate and a separate lead concentrate. In Q4 2018, 11,846 tonnes of concentrate containing 48.7% zinc and 10,151 tonnes of concentrate containing 72.9% lead were produced. Total 2018 production was 46,128 tonnes of zinc concentrate at an average grade of 48.9% and 40,317 tonnes of lead concentrate at an average grade of 72.9%.   

Sasa typically receives from smelters approximately 84% of the value of its zinc in concentrate and approximately 95% of the value of its lead in concentrate. Accordingly, Q4 2018 payable production of zinc was 4,821 tonnes and of lead was 7,031 tonnes, bringing total payable production for 2018 to 18,842 tonnes of zinc and 27,919 tonnes of lead. Given that deliveries from Sasa to the smelters occur on a daily basis, payable base metal in concentrate sales for the year were very similar at 18,792 tonnes of zinc and 27,878 tonnes of lead.

During 2018, Sasa sold 375,366 ounces of payable silver that are recovered in the lead concentrate. Due to an existing streaming agreement with Osisko Gold Royalties, CAML's silver production has been pre-sold.  

	Units	Q4 2018	2018	2017*
Ore mined	t	205,762	803,101	792,068
Plant feed	t	205,130	804,749	793,332
Zinc grade	%	3.31	3.31	3.18
Zinc recovery	%	85.0	84.6	85.5
Lead grade	%	3.86	3.90	3.98
Lead recovery	%	93.4	93.6	94.6
Zinc concentrate	t (dry)	11,846	46,128	43,676
-      Grade	%	48.7	48.9	49.4
-      Contained zinc	t	5,769	22,532	21,585
Lead concentrate	t (dry)	10,151	40,317	40,757
-      Grade	%	72.9	72.9	73.3
-      Contained lead	t	7,401	29,388	29,881

*CAML owned Sasa for only two months of 2017

Development and exploration

In Q2 2017, the Sasa team commenced construction of tailings storage facility 4 (TSF4). Construction of this facility is materially complete and is now expected to be concluded in H1 2019. TSF4 should provide tailings storage for seven years.

During H2 2018, CAML commenced a 'Life of Mine' study at Sasa. This work programme will entail an in-depth review of each aspect of the Sasa operation and is expected to be completed throughout the course of 2019.

As part of the Life of Mine study, CAML undertook diamond drilling at both Svinja Reka, the location of current mining operations, and Golema Reka, which was mined between 1981 and 2010. The aim of the programme was to identify additional resource potential and to convert a portion of the inferred resources at both deposit areas into the indicated category.

Svinja Reka

Svinja Reka currently has JORC compliant inferred mineral resources of 2.7 million tonnes containing 3.2% lead and 2.1% zinc. During the year, over 3,000 metres of diamond drilling have been completed below the 830 metre level at Svinja Reka. Results over a 150 metre strike length have confirmed extensions to mineralisation down to and beneath the 750 metre level at significant intersections. CAML is encouraged that the grades identified in the area below the 830 metre level appear to be higher than the current inferred resource demonstrates.   

Drill hole	From (m)	Intersection (m)*	Pb grade (%)	Zn grade (%)	Combined (%)
B01 830 750	2	2	2.86	5.06	7.92
	9	6	3.57	5.49	9.06
	29	3	8.21	3.59	11.80
B02 830 750	29	4	0.70	0.20	0.90
B03 830 750	2	3	5.16	6.63	11.79
	10	9	9.11	10.60	19.71
	34	2	7.02	7.91	14.93
B04 830 750	4	5	6.90	6.59	13.49
	23	6	3.82	4.21	8.03
	60	6	4.31	0.09	4.40
	77	4	4.77	0.29	5.06
B05 830 750	0	2	4.52	3.59	8.11
	18	2	0.47	7.06	7.53
B06 830 750	38	5	3.68	2.41	6.09
B07 830 750	78	2	0.59	0.39	0.98
B08 830 750	0	0	0.00	0.00	0.00
B09 830 750	112	2	0.58	0.29	0.87
B10 830 750	68	28	7.46	4.60	12.06
B11 830 750	73	40	9.40	2.56	11.96
B12 830 750	80	28	6.81	6.69	13.50
B13 830 750	105	30	9.14	5.14	14.28
B14 830 750	48	9	8.67	5.72	14.39
B15 830 750	48	13	6.83	4.18	11.01
	74	15	3.48	1.65	5.13
B16 830 750	44	16	5.24	0.67	5.91
	89	35	8.21	5.64	13.85
	157	3	5.71	4.54	10.25
B17 830 750	31	5	1.77	1.14	2.91
B18 830 750	25	2	4.20	2.04	6.24
	47	10	5.12	0.88	6.00
	74	4	3.05	1.26	4.31
B19 830 750	66	2	4.53	4.04	8.57
	71	4	1.64	0.70	2.34
	84	9	7.46	0.56	8.02
B20 830 750	47	5	4.42	3.98	8.40
B21 830 750	34	3	4.32	4.11	8.43
	50	2	7.46	5.23	12.69
	56	5	2.29	1.54	3.83
B22 830 750	91	3	4.55	8.08	12.63
	147	15	8.66	2.70	11.36

*Intersections do not represent true widths

Golema Reka

Golema Reka currently has JORC compliant inferred mineral resources of 7.4 million tonnes containing 3.7% lead and 1.5% zinc. A programme comprising over 3,000 metres of diamond drilling was undertaken at Golema Reka, generating encouraging intersections over a 350 metre strike length that demonstrate an extension of mineralisation beneath the 700 metre level. Golema Reka is accessible from the current mine infrastructure.

Drill hole	From (m)	Intersection (m)*	Pb grade (%)	Zn grade (%)	Combined (%)
B1_GR	298	1	2.67	0.32	2.99
	301	1	2.58	0.23	2.81
B2_GR	320	4	1.98	0.55	2.53
	358	6	4.71	0.61	5.32
B3_GR	335	4	2.19	0.25	2.44
	354	3	2.08	0.17	2.25
	365	11	6.04	1.14	7.18
B4_GR	338	4	1.30	1.94	3.24
	347	6	2.23	0.64	2.87
B5_GR	279	5	5.65	2.98	8.63
	284	5	4.09	0.81	4.90
	289	15	6.71	3.16	9.87
B6_GR	345	5	1.22	0.52	1.74
B7_GR	303	2	1.74	3.03	4.77
	318	2	2.00	0.70	2.70
	340	3	2.13	1.11	3.24
	344	2	3.38	3.79	7.17
	363	3	5.67	4.21	9.88
	371	10	5.96	1.10	7.06
B8_GR	271	6	5.57	0.80	6.37
	286	6	1.35	0.34	1.69
	295	2	10.37	0.82	11.19

*Intersections do not represent true widths

An updated JORC compliant mineral resource estimate reflecting both drilling programmes is expected during Q1 2019.

2019 production guidance

CAML targets 2019 Kounrad copper production of between 12,500 and 13,500 tonnes of cathode, of which approximately 70% is expected to be leached from the Western Dumps.

At Sasa, CAML expects 2019 underground ore production of between 800,000 and 825,000 tonnes. This should result in zinc in concentrate production of between 22,000 and 24,000 tonnes and lead in concentrate production of between 28,000 and 30,000 tonnes.

Business development

Shuak

During 2018, CAML completed the second exploration season at Shuak, undertaking both diamond and core hydrotransport drilling. While the results received have been encouraging, CAML is of the opinion that this project is unlikely to be of sufficient scale to warrant development by the Company. Therefore, CAML plans to return the asset to the current 20% shareholders, while retaining a Net Smelter Return ('NSR') royalty of 1.25% as per the original agreement.

Other

During 2018, CAML has screened 22 business development opportunities and conducted three site visits. The Company is currently further reviewing two potential base metals opportunities.

Cash

As of 31 December 2018, CAML had cash in the bank of $39 million.

For further information contact:

Central Asia Metals	Tel: [phone]
Nick Clarke, Chairman
Nigel Robinson, CEO
Gavin Ferrar, CFO
Louise Wrathall, Investor Relations	[e-mail]
Peel Hunt (Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Ross Allister
James Bavister
David McKeown
Mirabaud Securities (Joint Broker)	Tel: [phone]
Peter Krens
Blytheweigh (PR Advisors)	Tel: [phone]
Tim Blythe
Camilla Horsfall
Megan Ray

Qualified Person Statement:

The technical information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Scott Yelland, CAML COO, a qualified Chartered Engineer and member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (MIMMM).

Note to editors:

Central Asia Metals, an AIM-listed UK company based in London, owns 100% of the Kounrad SX-EW copper project in central Kazakhstan and the Sasa zinc-lead mine in Macedonia. For further information, please visit www.centralasiametals.com.

 

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