REG - Anglo Asian Mining - Q4 and FY 2023 Production and Operations Review

Anglo Asian MiningAnnouncement

15/01/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 6109Z  Anglo Asian Mining PLC  15 January 2024

15 January 2024

 

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q4 and FY 2023 Production and Operations Review

FY 2023 production of 31,821 gold equivalent ounces at mid-range of guidance

 

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
2023") and twelve months to 31 December 2023 ("FY 2023" or the "Period").

 

Production during the Period was significantly reduced due to operations being
partially suspended as the Company and third-party contractors finalised the
results of an environmental audit at its operations. An action plan was agreed
with the Government of Azerbaijan on 7 November 2023, and the Company was
pleased to restart mining at Gedabek in December 2023.

 

Production update

·   Total FY 2023 production of 31,821 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs"), in
the mid-range of the revised guidance of 30,000 to 34,000 GEOs (FY 2022:
57,618 GEOs)

·    Q4 2023 production of 3,080 GEOs (Q4 2022: 14,532 GEOs)

 

Operational update

·    Protocol agreed with the Government of Azerbaijan to restart
operations following the partial environmental shut-down in Q3 2023

o Mining from the Gedabek open pit restarted in December 2023

o Operations now being ramped up with flotation production restarting in Q2
2024

·   Production of gold doré and copper concentrate continued throughout
Q4 2023 from heap leaching and SART processing

·    Caterpillar underground mining fleet for the new Gilar mine delivered
to Gedabek in early December 2023

·    Gilar maiden JORC mineral resource confirmed meaningful quantities of
copper and gold

o  In-situ mineral resource of 54,000 tonnes of copper, 255,000 ounces of
gold and 46,000 tonnes of zinc

·    Gilar development continues with production planned to commence
during Q3 2024

 

Cash and inventory update

·    Net debt of $10.3 million at 31 December 2023 (30 September 2023: net
cash of $1.6 million) with the following payment made in Q4 2023

o $4.7 million to Caterpillar for the underground mining fleet and associated
equipment

§ Negotiations ongoing to refinance $3.7 million of the mining fleet purchase
price with vendor financing

·    Gross cash of $10.3 million at 31 December 2023

o $15.0 million drawn down from International Bank of Azerbaijan under its
revolving credit facility and loan agreements

o $5.6 million loan drawn down from Access Bank in August 2023

·    The Company had inventory at market value of $7.1 million at 31
December 2023 (gold and silver bullion of $6.9 million and copper concentrate
of $0.2 million)

·    1,000 ounces of gold bullion sold in Q4 2023 at an average price of
$2,001 per ounce under the gold hedging programme, generating additional sales
revenue of $44,000

o Total gold bullion sales in Q4 2023 of 2,416 ounces at an average of $2,004
per ounce

o 1,500 ounces of gold bullion was sold for $2,061.5 per ounce on 3 January
2024 yielding proceeds of $3.1 million

 

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:

"Despite a number of challenges faced during the Period, we are pleased to
announce production within our previously revised guidance range.

"In November, we were pleased to agree a protocol with the Government of
Azerbaijan to restart our operations, and mining at our flagship Gedabek mine
recommenced in December. We continue to make meaningful progress in restarting
flotation production, which is on-track to begin from Q2 2024.

"The completion of a maiden JORC mineral resource for Gilar marked a milestone
for the Company, confirming our internal estimates regarding the asset's
potential and its ability to meaningfully contribute to our production
portfolio in the years ahead. We were also pleased to announce the delivery of
a new state-of-the-art underground mining fleet for Gilar from Caterpillar,
the first deployment of this type of equipment in Azerbaijan.

"Looking ahead to 2024, we will continue to prioritise the development of our
exciting asset portfolio in line with our growth strategy, while driving
production from our existing mines. I look forward to updating the market on
our progress in the coming months."

Note that all references to "$" are to United States dollars and "CAN$" are
to Canadian dollars.

 

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:

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 13.1 per cent. of Libero Copper & Gold
Corporation ("Libero"). Libero is listed on the TSX Venture
Exchange in Canada and owns Mocoa in Colombia, one of the world's largest
undeveloped copper-molybdenum resources. https://www.angloasianmining.com/
(https://www.angloasianmining.com/)

 

Production and sales overview

 

Q4 2023 production

·    Total production of 3,080 GEOs (Q4 2022: 14,531 GEOs), comprising of:

o  2,979 ounces of gold (Q4 2022: 11,121 ounces):

§ 2,975 ounces contained within gold doré

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

o  18 tonnes of copper (Q4 2022: 624 tonnes):

§ 18 tonnes from SART processing

o  2,874 ounces of silver (Q4 2022: 37,378 ounces):

§ 1,610 ounces contained within gold doré

§ 1,264 ounces from SART processing

 

FY 2023 production

·    Total production of 31,821 GEOs (FY 2022: 57,618 GEOs), including:

o  21,758 ounces of gold (FY 2022: 43,114 ounces)

o  2,138 tonnes of copper (FY 2022: 2,516 tonnes)

o  53,226 ounces of silver (FY 2022: 182,046 ounces)

 

Q4 2023 Sales

·    Q4 2023 gold bullion sales of 2,416 ounces at an average of $2,004
per ounce (Q4 2022: 13,645 ounces sold at an average of $1,727 per ounce)

·    Q4 2023 copper concentrate shipments totalled 2,186 dry metric tonnes
("dmt") with a sales value of $2.3 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan
profit share) (Q4 2022: 4,606 dmt with a sales value of $7.5 million)

 

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

 

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the 12 months to
31 December 2023:

 

                9 months to              3 months to             12 months to

                30 September 2023        31 December 2023         31 December 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       1,079,302   0.35         101,393    0.69         1,180,695   0.38
 Gadir - u/g    93,625      1.65         15,695     1.58         109,320     1.64
 Gedabek - u/g  -           -            -          -            -           -
 Total          1,172,927   0.67         117,088    0.81         1,290,015   0.49

 

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching for
FY 2022 and FY 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                -
 31 December 2023   -                           -                   -                   -                           -                   -
 H2 2023            25,690                      34,621              -                   0.83                        0.45                -
 FY 2023            176,730                     434,004             167,219             0.76                        0.48                1.4

 

* includes previously heap leached ore

 

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by
flotation for FY 2022 and FY 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
 31 December 2023   -              -             -               -
 H2 2023            62,369         478           4,358           363
 FY 2023            445,478        2,998         34,525          2,687

 

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for
FY 2022 and FY 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  4,001           1,488       2,900         1,949
 31 December 2023   2,975           1,610       2,416         2,004
 H2 2023            6,976           3,098       5,316         1,974
 FY 2023            20,316          9,532       15,822        1,951

Note

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
and FY 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     11,149     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   -          4,001      4,001      -          1,488      1,488
 31 Dec 2023    -          2,975      2,975      -          1,610      1,610
 H2 2023        -          6,976      6,976      -          3,098      3,098
 FY 2023        5,568      14,748     20,316     2,812      6,720      9,532

 

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the
Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2022 and FY 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          191       26        8,750
 Flotation                   4,544        665       762       11,095
 Total                       4,908        856       788       19,845
 Quarter ended 30 June
 SART processing             272          145       16        10,316
 Flotation                   5,613        869       479       8,101
 Total                       5,885        1,014     495       18,417
 Quarter ended 30 September
 SART processing             85           43        4         2,194
 Flotation                   1,316        207       151       1,974
 Total                       1,401        250       155       4,168
 Quarter ended 31 December
 SART processing             29           18        4         1,264
 Flotation                   -            -         -         -
 Total                       29           18        4         1,264

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 FY 2023. 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 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 Sept 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        856       788       19,845    1,147        2,743
 30 June 2023      5,885        1,014     495       18,417    5,501        7,678
 H1 2023           10,793       1,870     1,283     38,262    6,648        10,421
 30 Sept 2023      1,401        250       155       4,168     2,358        3,066
 31 December 2023  29           18        4         1,264     2,186        2,306
 H2 2023           1,430        268       159       5,432     4,544        5,372
 FY 2023           12,223       2,138     1,442     43,694    11,192       15,793

Notes

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

 

Cash and net debt at 31 December 2023

                                               US$m
 Cash at bank (available for use)              4.3
 Restricted cash (security for borrowing)      6.0
       Total cash                              10.3
 IBA - credit facility: 5.5 % per annum        (5.0)
 IBA - revolving credit line: 6.5 % per annum  (10.0)
 Access bank: 0.5 % per month                  (5.6)
       Total debt                              (20.6)
 Net cash / (debt)                             (10.3)

 

**ENDS**

 

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