REG - Anglo Asian Mining - Q4 and FY 2022 Production and Operations review

Anglo Asian MiningAnnouncement

16/01/2023 07:00

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230116:nRSP7474Ma&default-theme=true

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: +994 12 596 3350
 Bill Morgan, Chief Financial Officer                           Tel: +994 502 910 400
 Stephen Westhead, Vice President                               Tel: +994 502 916 894

 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated Adviser and Broker)  Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470

 Ewan Leggat

 Adam Cowl

 Hudson Sandler (Financial PR)                                  Tel: +44 0) 20 7796 4133

 Charlie Jack

 Harry Griffiths

 

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/
(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              3 months to             12 months to

                30 September 2022        31 December 2022         31 December 2022
 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       1,276,286   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  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 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*       Silver          Gold sales**  Gold Sales price

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

                                         (ounces)

 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        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
 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**

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  DRLBLGDBUXBDGXS