Q3 and 9M 2021 Production and Operations review

RNS Number : 8545O

Anglo Asian Mining PLC

13 October 2021

 

Anglo Asian Mining plc / Ticker: AAZ / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining

13 October 2021

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q3 and 9M 2021 Production and Operations review

Production of 16,316 gold equivalent ounces in Q3 2021

Cash of $30.9 million at 30 September 2021

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM listed gold, copper and silver producer operating in Azerbaijan, is pleased to provide a production, sales and operations review for its Gedabek gold, copper and silver production contract area ("Gedabek") in western Azerbaijan for the three and nine months to 30 September 2021 ("Q3 2021" and "9M 2021" respectively).

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

Overview

· Q3 2021 production of 16,316 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") (Q3 2020: 18,190 GEOs)

· 9M 2021 total production of 48,487 GEOs (9M 2020: 50,702 GEOs)

· Cash of $30.9 million at 30 September 2021 (30 June 2021: $36.6 million)

o Final dividend for 2020 of $5.2 million and profits tax of $1.4 million paid in Q3 2021

· Full Year 2021 ("FY 2021") production guidance of 64,000 to 72,000 GEOs maintained

· Transformational acquisition of rights to three new concessions in Azerbaijan with significant copper reserves, a milestone in the Company's history, announced on 29 September 2021. These new concessions, subject to parliamentary ratification, underpin Anglo Asian's strategy to become a mid-tier copper and gold miner

· An interim dividend of $0.045 per share will be paid gross to shareholders at the record date of 8 October on 4 November 2021 for the year ending 31 December 2021

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:  

"I am pleased to report a steady rate of production year-to-date as we continue to mine our existing sites, and we reiterate production guidance for the full year 2021.

"We made considerable progress in increasing our resources during the period and are now presented with several compelling growth opportunities. The high-quality Zafar deposit, and three exciting new contract areas, significantly strengthen our copper inventories. These will underpin our future long-term production and transition to a mid-tier producer."

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 until the release of this announcement.

For further information please contact:

Reza Vaziri	Anglo Asian Mining plc	Tel: [phone]
Bill Morgan	Anglo Asian Mining plc	Tel: [phone]
Stephen Westhead	Anglo Asian Mining plc	Tel: [phone]
Ewan Leggat Adam Cowl	SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker	Tel: [phone]
Charlie Jack Elfie Kent	Hudson Sandler	Tel: [phone]

Notes to editors

Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company produced 67,249 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") for the year ended 31 December 2020. The Company has a production target for the year to 31 December 2021 of 48,000 ounces to 54,000 ounces of gold and 2,500 tonnes to 2,800 tonnes of copper. This total production target expressed as gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") at budgeted prices is between 64,000 GEOs and 72,000 GEOs.

The Company has recently announced a transaction with the Government of Azerbaijan which grants it three additional concessions with a combined area of 882 square kilometers which include the Garadagh porphyry copper deposit with a Soviet classified resource of over 300,000 tonnes of copper. The transaction is subject to ratification by the parliament of Azerbaijan. 

https://www.angloasianmining.com/

Production overview

Q3 2021

· Total production of 16,316 GEOs (Q3 2020: 18,190 GEOs)

· Gold production of 12,847 ounces (Q3 2020: 15,461 ounces):

o 12,317 ounces contained within gold doré

o 13 ounces from sulfidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening ("SART") processing

o 517 ounces from flotation processing

· Copper production totalled 573 tonnes (Q3 2020: 688 tonnes):

o 265 tonnes from SART processing

o 308 tonnes from flotation processing

· Silver production totalled 36,912 ounces (Q3 2020: 31,036 ounces):

o 5,473 ounces contained within gold doré

o 19,526 ounces from SART processing

o 11,913 ounces from flotation processing

9M 2021

· Total production of 48,487 GEOs (9M 2020: 50,702 GEOs)

· Gold production of 37,096 ounces (9M 2020: 43,384 ounces)

· Copper production totalled 1,906 tonnes (9M 2020: 1,895 tonnes)

· Silver production totalled 115,843 ounces (9M 2020: 89,564 ounces)

Sales

· Q3 2021 gold bullion sales of 6,828 ounces at an average of $1,815 per ounce (Q3 2020: 6,599 ounces sold at an average of $1,947 per ounce)

· Q3 2021 copper concentrate shipments totalled 3,549 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $5.7 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q3 2020: 2,084 dmt with a sales value of $3.4 million)

Company financials

· Cash and cash equivalents totaling $30.9 million at 30 September 2021 (Cash and cash equivalents of $36.6 million at 30 June 2021)

o Final dividend in respect of 2020 of $5.2 million and profits tax of $1.4 million paid in Q3 2021

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

Anglo Asian continued to mine existing sites during the period, following the exhaustion of the Ugur open pit in late 2020, in line with previously announced guidance for the year and maintaining steady production.

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the nine months to 30 September 2021:

	6 months to 30 June 2021		3 months to 30 September 2021		9 months to  30 September 2021
Mine	Ore mined	Average gold grade	Ore mined	Average gold grade	Ore mined	Average gold grade
	(tonnes)	(g/t)	(tonnes)	(g/t)	(tonnes)	(g/t)
Open pit	902,151	0.81	388,519	0.71	1,290,670	0.78
Ugur - o/pit	-	-	-	-	-	-
Gadir - u/g	54,145	2.05	31,188	1.81	85,333	1.96
Gosha - u/g	-	-	-	-	-	-
Gedabek - u/g	99,847	1.60	54,179	1.36	154,026	1.52
Total	1,056,142	0.95	473,886	0.86	1,530,028	0.65

* 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 2020 and Q1 to Q3 2021:

Quarter ended	Ore processed			Gold grade of ore processed
	Heap leach pad crushed ore (tonnes)	Heap leach pad ROM ore (tonnes)	Agitation leaching plant* (tonnes)	Heap leach pad crushed ore (g/t)	Heap leach pad ROM ore (g/t)	Agitation leaching plant* (g/t)
31 March 2020	132,731	258,121	163,379	0.84	0.49	2.53
30 June 2020	139,752	134,675	161,079	0.79	0.44	1.95
30 September 2020	168,945	149,031	181,200	0.87	0.50	2.09
31 December 2020	107,852	172,206	177,487	0.89	0.59	1.81
FY 2020	549,280	714,033	683,145	0.85	0.51	2.17
31 March 2021	110,612	258,097	154,373	0.90	0.61	1.84
30 June 2021	154,619	177,369	164,288	0.81	0.59	1.64
H1 2021	265,231	435,466	318,661	0.84	0.60	1.78
30 September 2021	154,112	194,816	170,829	0.79	0.51	1.65

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation for FY 2020 and Q1 to Q3 2021:

Quarter ended	Ore processed	Gold content	Silver content	Copper content
	(tonnes)	(ounces)	(ounces)	(tonnes)
31 March 2020	126,354	1,860	28,831	622
30 June 2020	132,848	1,459	18,354	762
30 September 2020	123,440	1,565	15,530	741
31 December 2020	110,772	859	8,660	693
FY 2020	493,414	5,743	71,375	2,818
31 March 2021	111,060	920	15,782	652
30 June 2021	116,910	1,251	23,870	596
H1 2021	227,970	2,171	39,652	1,248
30 September 2021	126,161	1,231	19,939	519

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2020 and Q1 to Q3 2021:

	Gold produced* (ounces)			Silver produced* (ounces)		Gold sales** (ounces)		Gold Sales price ($/ounce)
Quarter ended
31 March 2020	15,034			3,852		11,236		1,577
30 June 2020	11,455			3,562		12,743		1,713
H1 2020	26,489			7,414		23,979		1,649
30 Sept 2020	14,945			5,487		6,599		1,947
31 Dec 2020	13,276			4,614		18,072		1,884
H2 2020	28,221			10,101		24,671		1,901
FY 2020	54,710			17,515		48,650		1,777
31 March 2021	11,541			4,916		5,635		1,697
30 June 2021	11,791			5,922		13,947		1,808
H1 2021	23,332			10,838		19,582		1,776
30 Sept 2021	12,317			5,473		6,828		1,815
Note

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excluding Government of Azerbaijan's share

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2020 and Q1 to Q3 2021:

	Concentrate	Copper	Gold	Silver
	production*	content*	content*	content*
2020	(dmt)	(tonnes)	(ounces)	(ounces)
Quarter ended 31 March
SART processing	221	114	8	12,895
Flotation	2,773	445	825	17,895
Total	2,994	559	833	30,790
Quarter ended 30 June
SART processing	267	151	7	10,857
Flotation	2,904	497	573	9,542
Total	3,171	648	580	20,399
Quarter ended 30 Sept
SART processing	301	165	7	17,148
Flotation	2,965	523	476	8,416
Total	3,266	688	483	25,564
Quarter ended 31 December
SART processing	421	196	15	21,279
Flotation	2,929	500	243	7,086
Total	3,350	696	258	28,365
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 Sept
SART processing	503	265	13	19,526
Flotation	2,600	308	517	11,913
Total	3,103	573	530	31,439

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 2020 and Q1 to Q3 2021. 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 2020	2,994	559	833	30,790	2,018	2,863
30 June 2020	3,171	648	580	20,399	3,526	4,707
H1 2020	6,165	1,207	1,413	51,189	5,544	7,570
30 Sept 2020	3,266	688	483	25,564	2,084	3,377
31 Dec 2020	3,350	696	258	28,365	4,211	6,763
H2 2020	6,616	1,384	741	53,929	6,295	10,140
FY 2020	12,781	2,591	2,154	105,118	11,839	17,710
31 March 2021	2,848	638	366	30,499	-	-
30 June 2021	3,164	695	551	37,644	3,467	9,066
H1 2021	6,012	1,333	917	68,143	3,467	9,066
30 Sept 2021	3,103	573	530	31,439	3,549	5,712

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

Cash

The Company had cash of $30.9 million at 30 September 2021 ($36.6 million at 30 June 2021) and no debt.

Gadir underground mine - JORC Mineral Resources and Ore reserves Published on 23 September 2021 - Correction

On 23 September 2021, the Company published its interim results for the six months

ended 30 June 2021. These included the JORC Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves of the Gadir underground mine, as disclosed in tables three and four respectively of the Strategic Report. The two tables incorrectly gave the units of the contained zinc and copper as thousands of tonnes ("kt"). The correct units for the amounts shown in the two tables for contained zinc and copper are tonnes.

**ENDS**

 

END

 

 

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