TIDMAAZ

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 
                                             Tel: +994 12 596 
 Reza Vaziri, Chief Executive Officer         3350 
                                             Tel: +994 502 910 
 Bill Morgan, Chief Financial Officer         400 
                                             Tel: +994 502 916 
 Stephen Westhead, Vice President             894 
 
 SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP (Nominated   Tel: +44 (0) 20 
  Adviser and Broker)                         3470 0470 
  Ewan Leggat 
  Adam Cowl 
 
 Hudson Sandler (Financial PR)               Tel: +44 0) 20 7796 
  Charlie Jack                                4133 
  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/

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 
                             Average               Average               Average 
                                gold                  gold                  gold 
 Mine            Ore mined     grade   Ore mined     grade   Ore mined     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         Heap                      Heap         Heap 
                         leach        leach     Agitation       leach        leach    Agitation 
                      pad crushed    pad ROM     leaching    pad crushed    pad ROM    leaching 
                          ore          ore        plant*         ore          ore       plant* 
                       (tonnes)      (tonnes)    (tonnes)       (g/t)        (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 
                     (ounces)          produced*      (ounces)         price 
                                       (ounces)                      ($/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                        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**

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