TIDMAAZ
RNS Number : 2303U
Anglo Asian Mining PLC
27 March 2023
27 March 2023
Anglo Asian Mining plc
300,000 plus tonnes of copper defined at Garadag
Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM
listed gold, copper and silver producer primarily focused in
Azerbaijan, is pleased to announce that an initial assessment of
data relating to the Garadag porphyry copper deposit (the "Garadag
Deposit") confirms the potential to produce over 300,000 tonnes of
copper.
Anglo Asian acquired historic geological data from AzerGold CJSC
(the "Data") relating to the Garadag Deposit, which is hosted
within the Garadag contract area and located north of the Company's
Gedabek and Xarxar contract areas.
This initial assessment by the Company has not been prepared
according to the JORC Standard. The Company intends to prepare a
mineral resource estimate using the JORC procedures on completion
of the evaluation programme, targeting mid-2024 for the preparation
of the mineral resource estimate according to the JORC code.
Stephen Westhead, Vice-President of Anglo Asian, commented:
"Garadag hosts very significant quantities of copper. It has the
potential to meaningfully increase our production profile and alone
provides us with considerable copper mineralisation. It is an
important addition to the Company's growing portfolio of copper
assets.
"While only a preliminary assessment, we are incredibly excited
by Garadag's development potential, and believe it can produce
between 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of copper per annum. We are
currently conducting further validation processes to provide
additional confidence, including producing a JORC-compliant mineral
resource estimate."
The Garadag contract area
The Garadag contract area (Figure 1), which was granted to the
Company in July 2022, has an area of 344 square kilometres and is
located 16 kilometres to the north-north-east of the Gedabek
processing facilities. In August 2022, the Company acquired drill
core, assays and other data about Garadag and the nearby Xarxar
mineral occurrence from AzerGold CJSC. The Data include historical
drilling results from exploration carried out during the Soviet
era, as well as more modern work undertaken by the two previous
owners of Garadag, namely Aimroc Ltd. and, most recently, AzerGold
CJSC. The roads built for drill access are accessible and
serviceable on Garadag (Figure 2).
Figure 1: Garadag and adjacent contract area boundaries of Anglo
Asian showing the position of ongoing projects (source: Google
Earth).
The Data
A summary of the drill hole results in the Data is tabulated
below:
Total Number
Number of drill holes length of samples
Drilling Total
Period Adit Vertical Inclined (metres) (metres)
----- --------- --------- ------ --------- ------------
Soviet 129 129 35,140 13,776
----- --------- --------- ------ --------- ------------
Soviet adit 5 5 2,055 953
----- --------- --------- ------ --------- ------------
Aimroc 12 3 15 7,206 6,887
----- --------- --------- ------ --------- ------------
AzerGold CJSC 108 16 124 23,454 8,199
----- --------- --------- ------ --------- ------------
Total 5 249 19 273 67,855 29,815
=============== ===== ========= ========= ====== ========= ============
The 23,454 metres of drill core and core samples of the AzerGold
CJSC drill campaign have all been transferred to Anglo Asian.
Figure 2: The Garadag deposit location
In addition to drill hole and assay data, Anglo Asian also
received the following data and information: Soviet era and
Azerbaijan exploration geological maps; geophysics (induced
polarisation "IP" and magnetic) survey data; and preliminary
three-dimensional geological models. Various technical reports were
also received, which are listed in Appendix one.
Mineral resources of the Garadag Deposit
The first mineral resource estimate of the Garadag Deposit was
produced during the Soviet era dated 01 January 1992. It contained
over 318,000 tonnes of copper under the Soviet Standard of resource
classification and is tabulated below:
Copper content
-------------------------------
Unit Category Category Total C1
C1 C2 and C2
-------------------- --------- --------- ---------
Ore Millions of tonnes 25.35 23.69 49.04
-------------------- --------- --------- ---------
Thousands of
Copper content tonnes 168 150.7 318.7
-------------------- --------- --------- ---------
Grade Per cent. 0.65 0.64 0.64
-------------------- --------- --------- ---------
AzerGold CJSC contracted with various international
consultancies to work on the mineral resource estimation, in-pit
resources and metallurgical testwork. All AzerGold CJSC samples
were assayed and analysed by the international group, ALS. AMC
Consultants PTY Ltd ("AMC") provided resource estimation services
and Bureau Veritas Minerals PTY Ltd ("BV") were commissioned to
carry out metallurgical testwork.
AMC prepared a Garadag pit optimisation and design study in
February 2020 and developed two open pit scenarios, one mining over
43 million tonnes of ore (containing 163,000 tonnes of copper) over
a 9 year period and the other mining over 90 million tonnes of ore
(containing 307,000 tonnes of copper) over an 18 year period. These
results partially confirmed the presence of over 300,000 tonnes of
in-situ copper within an open pit shell.
Anglo Asian carried out mineral resource estimation based on
geostatistical techniques and three-dimensional modelling on data
received from AzerGold CJSC, constrained by the larger of the AMC
pit shells (referenced in the paragraph above). This showed an
"Indicated" plus "Inferred" mineral resource of over 66.3 million
tonnes of ore at 0.49 per cent. copper, containing some 324,688
tonnes of copper, which further confirmed the copper potential of
the Garadag Deposit. The database developed by Anglo Asian needs to
be fully validated and further check drilling and confirmation of
data will be carried out. The Company's preliminary mineral
resource estimate, although utilising geostatistical methods
according to JORC guidelines, requires further work to satisfy the
JORC Standard requirements and is therefore not prepared to JORC
Standard. The Company intends to prepare a mineral resource
estimate to the JORC Standard on completion of the evaluation
programme.
The Company carried out further mineralisation modelling within
a 0.1 per cent. copper shell to determine the full potential of the
Garadag deposit. The amount of mineralisation, resultant copper per
cent. and contained copper were estimated using a range of cut-off
grades. The results are tabulated below.
Grade-tonnage relationship results above elevation of 1,000
metres level
(average depth from surface 500 metres)
Cut-off Mineralisation Resultant Metal
(Cu %) (tonnes) Grade (Cu (Cu tonnes)
%)
0.10 728,060,777 0.25 1,820,152
--------------- ----------- -------------
0.20 406,595,477 0.33 1,341,765
--------------- ----------- -------------
0.30 191,070,264 0.43 821,602
--------------- ----------- -------------
0.40 88,776,513 0.54 479,393
--------------- ----------- -------------
0.50 43,706,000 0.65 284,089
--------------- ----------- -------------
Note: Resources estimated based on a 2.6 grammes per tonne
specific gravity applied for all blocks.
Assuming a 0.3 per cent. copper cut-off, the resultant mineral
resource is 191 million tonnes grading 0.43 per cent. copper that
hosts 821 thousand tonnes of copper. A target to extract 500,000
tonnes of copper (61 per cent. of the 821,000 tonnes contained
copper) would result in a tonnage of 100 million tonnes of ore at
0.5 per cent. copper. At a mining rate of 7 million tonnes per
annum, this would give a 14 year mine life. 35,000 tonnes of copper
per annum could be extracted over the 14 year mine life, which at a
65 per cent. processing recovery, would deliver production of
22,750 tonnes of copper per annum. A long section showing the
extent of mineralisation at Garadag is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Long section of the Garadag Deposit showing drill hole
traces
Ongoing studies by Anglo Asian
As part of the initial validation of the Data by Anglo Asian,
five AzerGold CJSC drill cores with a total length of 1,305 metres
were geologically logged and 815 core samples were assayed. Based
on this new geological logging, the mineralisation at Garadag has
been classified into "leached zone", "oxide zone", "enrichment
zone", "transition zone", and "primary zone" (Figure 4 below). This
will further assist the geometallurgical approach for process
selection.
Figure 4: Schematic cross-section through part of Garadag
Deposit showing mineral zonation
Assay and analysis data from ALS is being used to determine
geochemical signatures from rock and alteration geochemistry with
work carried out by Anglo Asian and specialists of the Natural
History Museum of London. Work includes identifying the geochemical
domains and 'ore' mineralogical domains within the database,
assessing mineral geochemistry, exploring the possibility of
developing algorithms for the classification of the lithological
'ore' mineral and alteration domains, and identifying intersections
where further mineralogical assessment is required. This work will
assist our understanding of the future potential of the
deposit.
Next steps in evaluation of the Data
All data will be transferred to the new database being developed
by the Company and checked and validated to ensure the information
is correct. High resolution photography and check logging or
geological relogging of all 23,454 metres of drill core will be
carried out to ensure consistency of geological description and
identification of features consistent with porphyry modelling. All
core and sample photographs will be compiled into a digital data
set as a sub-group of the main database.
A full mining assessment will be made to determine the likely
best options for extraction, which will involve the following
stages:
(i) Previous models of extractable mineralisation have been
based on open pit methods. However, an underground mining method
trade-off study will be carried out to assess the economics of
underground mining. This will enable preparation of the optimum
mining plan for a combined open pit and underground mine. This will
then be compared to the alternative approach of utilising in-situ
recovery methods.
(ii) Various geological techniques will be employed to
understand the geometallurgical properties of the deposit for mine
development. In parallel, planning for an environmental assessment
and administration of the site are underway.
(iii) In-house petrological-mineralogical studies will be
utilised for metallurgical work planning.
(iv) Reverse circulation drilling will be used for exploration
and near surface sampling, while core drilling will be deployed for
exploration, resource infill drilling, check or twin drilling,
metallurgical, geotechnical, and hydro-geological data acquisition.
The Company is also investigating the option of core scanning and
hyper-spectral scanning.
The Garadag contract area also hosts four other known
mineralisation targets named as "Moruglu", "Gochdere", and
"Seyidler" (Figure1) plus "Ashaqi Cayir" and "Yuxari Cayir"
collectively known as "Jaghirchay" near Garadag (Figure 5). The
length of the target zone adjacent to and including Garadag for
exploration is 9.8 kilometres (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Copper mineralisation potential over a length of 9.8
kilometres
Processing of ores from the Garadag Deposit
Production rates from Garadag, combined with Xarxar, could
exceed 30,000 to 35,000 tonnes of copper per annum from a dedicated
processing facility constructed for the Xarxar and Garadag mines.
It will be separate from the current processing facilities at
Gedabek.
Copper ores are typically processed by flotation, which
generally gives a higher recovery than heap leaching. However,
flotation produces a concentrate, which requires smelting and
refining to produce saleable copper metal, and a proportion of its
copper content is retained by its purchaser ('Offtaker'). Flotation
also requires the construction of a tailings dam. The Company is
therefore studying other methods of processing to maximise copper
production and revenue:
-- Heap leaching of the oxides and transition ores, followed by
solvent extraction and electro-winning to produce cathode copper
metal. No tailings dam is required for this process.
-- Bacterial leaching of the sulphide copper ores
Each of the various methods has a different profile of costs and
revenues and the Company is currently evaluating them to determine
which is optimal. In-situ recovery is another approach which is
also being considered.
Appendix One
Technical reports received as part of the AzerGold CJSC data
package (the Data)
Reports Topic Report name
-------------------------------------------------------
Reports "Environmental impact assessment project
Ecology of exploration works in Garadag ore deposit"
-------- --------------- -------------------------------------------------------
"Technical Report on the result of the
geological exploration works carried out
Geology in the Garadag contract area"
-------- --------------- -------------------------------------------------------
"Interpretation of IP/Resistivity Survey,
Khar Khar Area, Azerbaijan" (outside of
Geophysics deposit)
--------------- -------------------------------------------------------
"Environment baseline assessment Garadag,
Ecology Kharkhar and Jayirchay copper deposits"
--------------- -------------------------------------------------------
Report on the results of the geological
and geophysics work conducted according
to Annex No. 2 of the contract "On the
execution of geophysical surveys in the
Geology Kharkhar region" (outside of deposit)
--------------- -------------------------------------------------------
"Technological characteristics of the Garadag
Metallurgy ore deposit" (short)
--------------- -------------------------------------------------------
"Preliminary interpretation of lithogeochemistry
Lithochemistry in the Djagirchay area, Garadakh ore district"(short)
-------- --------------- -------------------------------------------------------
Glossary
"A, B, C1 and Categories of ore body defined under the Russian
C2" Standard as having met minimum requirements of exploration
information and knowledge;
"Assay" Measure of valuable mineral content;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Bacterial leaching" A process that extracts valuable metals from a low-grade
ore with the help of microorganisms;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Core" A solid, cylindrical sample of rock typically produced
by a rotating drill bit, but sometimes cut by percussive
methods;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Cu" Copper;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Cut-off grade" Grade of a commodity, measured as an amount per
unit mass, used to delineate the outer limits of
a proposed ore body;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Drillhole" Technically, a circular hole drilled by forces applied
percussively and/or by rotation; loosely and commonly,
the name applies to a circular hole drilled in any
manner;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Drilling" The operation of making deep holes with a drill
for prospecting, exploration, or valuation;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Enrichment zone" A mineral deposition process in which near-surface
oxidation produces acidic solutions that leach metals,
carry them downward, and reprecipitate them;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Flotation" A method used to separate and concentrate ores by
altering their surfaces to a hydrophobic or hydrophilic
condition;
------------------------------------------------------------
"g" Grammes;
------------------------------------------------------------
"g/t" Grammes per tonne;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Geological logging" A written and/or graphic record of the geologic
data obtained from drillhole core and/or cuttings;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Geostatistical The interpretation of mineralisation and geology
methods" that controls mineralisation;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Grade" The relative quantity or the percentage of ore-mineral
or metal content in an orebody;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Hydro-geological" A study of the occurrence, distribution, quality
movement of the shallow most groundwater of the
state and the potential impact of wastewaters on
the groundwater;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Indicated Resource" That part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity,
grade (or quality), densities, shape and physical
characteristics are estimated with sufficient confidence
to allow the application of Modifying Factors in
sufficient detail to support mine planning and evaluation
of the economic viability of the deposit. Geological
evidence is derived from adequately detailed and
reliable exploration, sampling and testing gathered
through appropriate techniques from locations such
as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill
holes, and is sufficient to assume geological and
grade (or quality) continuity between points of
observation where data and samples are gathered.
An Indicated Mineral Resource has a lower level
of confidence than that applying to a Measured Mineral
Resource and may only be converted to a Probable
Ore Reserve;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Induced polarisation" A ground-based geophysical survey technique measuring
the intensity of an induced electric current, used
to identify disseminated sulphide deposits;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Inferred Resource" That part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity
and grade (or quality) are estimated on the basis
of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological
evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological
and grade (or quality) continuity. It is based on
exploration, sampling and testing information gathered
through appropriate techniques from locations such
as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill
holes;
------------------------------------------------------------
"JORC" The Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration
Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, as
published by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of
The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals
Council of Australia;
------------------------------------------------------------
"JORC (2012)" The 2012 edition of the JORC code;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Leaching" The separation, selective removal or dissolving-out
of soluble constituents from a rock or ore body
by the natural actions of percolating solutions;
------------------------------------------------------------
"m" Metre;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Mineral Resource" A concentration or occurrence of material of economic
interest in or on the earth's crust in such form
and quantity that there are reasonable and realistic
prospects for eventual economic extraction. The
location, quantity, grade, continuity, and other
geological characteristics of a Mineral Resource
are known, estimated from specific geological evidence
and knowledge, or interpreted from a well-constrained
and portrayed geological model;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Mineralisation" The process by which minerals are introduced into
a rock. More generally, a term applied to accumulations
of economic or related minerals in quantities ranging
from weakly anomalous to economically recoverable;
------------------------------------------------------------
"MRE" Mineral Resource Estimate;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Mt" Million tonnes;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Open pit mining" Mining of a deposit from a pit open to surface and
usually carried out by stripping overburden materials;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Ore" The naturally occurring material from which a mineral
or minerals of economic value can be extracted profitably
or to satisfy social or political objectives. The
term is generally but not always used to refer to
metalliferous material, and is often modified by
the names of the valuable constituent;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Ore reserves" Is the economically mineable part of a Measured
and/or Indicated Mineral Resource. It includes diluting
materials and allowances for losses, which may occur
when the material is mined or extracted and is defined
by studies at Pre-Feasibility or Feasibility level
as appropriate that include application of Modifying
Factors. Such studies demonstrate that, at the time
of reporting, extraction could reasonably be justified;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Oxidation" A chemical reaction caused by exposure to oxygen
that results in a change in the chemical composition
of a mineral;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Oxide zone" The uppermost layer of a mineral deposit that has
been exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere or near-surface
waters;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Petrological-mineralogical The study of rocks and the processes that form and
studies" transform them and the crystal structure and physical
properties of the mineral constituents of rocks;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Pit optimisation" Analysis conducted to determine the most profitable
open pit design;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Primary zone" The area of minerals deposited during the original
period or periods of mineralisation containing unaltered
primary minerals;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Recovery Rate" A term used in process metallurgy to indicate the
proportion of valuable material obtained in the
processing of an ore. It is generally stated as
a percentage of the material recovered compared
to the total material present;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Russian Standard" Referring to the Gosstandart of Russia, the national
Russian standard on mining and minerals as published
by the National Certification Body of the Russian
Federation and adhered to by GKZ and Rosnedra;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Tailings dam" An earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts
of mining operations after separating the ore from
the gangue;
------------------------------------------------------------
"Transition zone" The broken, weathered zone between the subsoil and
competent, unaltered bedrock.
------------------------------------------------------------
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.
All references to "$" are to United States dollars.
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
Competent Person Statement
The information in the announcement that relates to exploration
results, minerals resources and ore reserves is based on
information compiled by Dr Stephen Westhead, who is a full-time
employee of Anglo Asian Mining with the position of Vice-President,
who is a Fellow of The Geological Society of London, a Chartered
Geologist, Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, Fellow of
the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a Member of the
Institute of Directors.
Stephen Westhead has sufficient experience that is relevant to
the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration
and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent
Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for
Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore
Reserves'. Stephen Westhead consents to the inclusion in the
announcement of the matters based on his information in the form
and context in which it appears.
Stephen Westhead has sufficient experience, relevant to the
style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and
to the activity that he is undertaking, to qualify as a "competent
person" as defined by the AIM rules. Stephen Westhead has reviewed
the mineral resources included in this announcement. For the
avoidance of doubt, resources and economically extractable copper
figures in this notification are not based on a Standard for the
reporting of reserves and resources, such as JORC, as defined in
the AIM Rules for Companies.
About Anglo Asian Mining
Anglo 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 Garadag porphyry copper
deposit, with a Soviet classified resource of over 300,000 tonnes
of copper. https://www.angloasianmining.com/
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