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Azerbaijan considerably increases gold production

Business Materials 14 January 2015 16:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.14

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

The Anglo-Asian Mining PLC (AAM) company, which is a gold producer in Azerbaijan, produced 60,285 ounces of gold in 2014, increased production by almost 16 percent over 2013, when 52,107 ounces of gold were produced, a statement posted Jan.14 on its website said.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, the company produced 17,053 ounces of gold at Gadabay and Gosha mines, which is 5.4 percent more than in the third quarter of 2013.

For comparison, in the third quarter of 2014, AAM produced 16,178 ounces of gold, in the second - 15,736 ounces, in the first - 11,318 ounces.

In 2014, the company sold 50,615 ounces of gold at an average price of $1,267 per ounce. In the fourth quarter of 2014, 13,272 ounces of gold at an average price of $1,201 per ounce were sold, in the third quarter - 13,797 ounces of gold at a price of $1,281, in the second quarter - 13,142 ounces at a price of $1,292 per ounce, in the first quarter - 10,403 ounces (at a price of $1,303 per ounce).

"I am pleased to report on the highest level of production in the fourth quarter, which led to an increase in gold production by 16 percent compared to 2013, as well as an increase in copper production by 140 percent - up to 784 metric tons (in 2013, 327 metric tons of copper were produced)," said the AAM CEO Reza Vaziri. "We reached our goal for the extraction of gold and copper this year. We hope to continue the 2015 year on this positive note."

Copper production by SART method made up 205 metric tons in the fourth quarter of 2014, which was 2.4 percent more than in the third quarter (210 metric tons).

Some 391 dry metric tons of copper concentrate was supplied during the mentioned period, and 1316 dry metric tons for the entire year of 2014, which amounted to $ 4.4 million.

In 2014, the AAM produced 31,177 ounces of silver. The decrease amounted to 53 percent, compared to 2013. For comparison, in 2013 the company produced 65,939 ounces of silver.

Some 3,749 ounces of silver (some 345 ounces of which were produced by agitation leaching, 366 ounces - heap leaching, 3,038 ounces - by SART method) was produced in the fourth quarter of 2014. For comparison - some 5,504 ounces of silver was produced in the third quarter, 8,785 ounces in the second quarter and 13,139 ounces in the first quarter of 2014.

The total amount of loan debt of the company on December 31, 2014 amounted to $52.8 million, $37 million of which was owed to Amsterdam Trade Bank, $13.1 million - International Bank of Azerbaijan, $0.8 million - the Atlas Copco company, $0 9 million - Yapi Kredi, $1 million - Pasha Bank.

The company Anglo Asian Mining PLC has the right to develop six fields in the southwest of Azerbaijan - Gadabay, Ordubad, Gosha Bulag, Gizil Bulag, Vejnali and Soyutlu based on the agreement of PSA type signed with the Azerbaijani government August 1997.

In May 2014, the AAM and Swiss group Industrial Minerals SA signed an agreement for the sale of concentrate copper produced at the Gadabay field.

The agreement was signed for a period of three years. The contract provides for the purchase of copper concentrate by a Swiss company.

Industrial Minerals will purchase both dry and wet copper concentrate. The AAM has reserves of 75 metric tons of dry and 550 metric tons of wet copper concentrate, ready for sale.

In 2013, the sales volumes of Gadabay copper field reached $6.6 million.

The gold produced at the mines is sent for treatment in Switzerland. The ingots are brought to Azerbaijan and stored in the government's vaults.

Edited by CN

Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli

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