REG - Anglo Asian Mining - Q3 and 9M 2023 Production and Operations review

Anglo Asian MiningAnnouncement

16/10/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 1510Q  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: +994 12 596 3350
 Bill Morgan       Anglo Asian Mining plc          Tel: +994 502 910 400
 Stephen Westhead  Anglo Asian Mining plc          Tel: +994 502 916 894
 Ewan Leggat       SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP  Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

 Adam Cowl         Nominated Adviser and Broker
 Charlie Jack      Hudson Sandler                  Tel: +44(0) 20 7796 4133

 Harry Griffiths

 

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/ (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             3 months to              9 months to

              30 June 2023            30 September 2023         30 September 2023
 Mine         Ore mined  Average      Ore mined   Average      Ore mined    Average

                         gold grade               gold grade                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  Heap leach pad ROM  Agitation leaching  Heap leach pad crushed ore  Heap leach pad ROM  Agitation leaching

                    (tonnes)                    ore                 plant*              (g/t)                       ore                 plant*

                                                (tonnes)            (tonnes)                                        (g/t)               (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*  Silver      Gold sales**  Gold Sales price

           (ounces)        produced*   (ounces)      ($/ounce)

                   (ounces)
 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

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        Gold                             Silver

 ended
                Agitation  Heap       Total      Agitation  Heap       Total

                leaching   leaching              leaching   leaching

                (ounces)   (ounces)   (ounces)   (ounces)   (ounces)   (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**

 

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