Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 12
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
The Anglo Asian Mining PLC (AAM) has reduced gold production forecast to 69,000-71,000 ounces for 2016, the company said in a message Sept. 12.
AAM is a gold, copper and silver producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan.
Earlier, the company planned to produce 73,000-77,000 ounces of gold. However, since early 2016, production of the precious metal declined slightly, by 5.9 percent, to 33,837 ounces.
At the same time, the sales of gold also decreased. During the first half of 2016, AAM sold 27,719 ounces of gold bars at a price of $1,230 per ounce (33,294 ounces at a price of $1,204 per ounce in the first half of 2015).
It was possible to partially offset the decrease of gold sales by increased sales of copper concentrate. For six months of 2016, the company sold 2,912 dry metric tons of copper and earned $5.2 million. For the same period last year, the company sold 606 dry metric tons of copper and earned $1.7 million.
In 2015, the company produced 72,032 ounces of gold by increasing output in the Gadabay field and commissioning a flotation plant in the fourth quarter of 2015. AAM produced 33,837 ounces of gold, 969 tons of copper and 90,782 ounces of silver in the first half of 2016.
Based on the production sharing agreement signed with Azerbaijani government in August 1997, AAM has the right to develop six fields in south-west of Azerbaijan: "Gadabay", "Ordubad", "Gosha Bulag", "Gizil Bulag", "Vejnali" and "Soyutlu".
The gold produced at the fields is sent to Switzerland for purification. The ingots are delivered to Azerbaijan and stored in the government's account.