Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 28
By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:
Anglo Asian Mining PLC expects gold production to be around 78,000-84,000 ounces in 2018 in Azerbaijan, President & CEO of the company Reza Vaziri told Trend.
He said that it is expected 2018 production to be at top of the range.
Vaziri said that the production is growing strongly, adding that the company commissioned a second crusher, which is a major upgrade to the production facilities.
“This has been a very exciting and successful year for the company. We also started a comprehensive geological exploration program to identify future mining opportunities and released a current Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) report for our main open pit mine.
Financially, 2018 is a landmark year as the company returned to net cash and last, but certainly not least for our shareholders, paid its first dividend,” the CEO underlined.
Speaking of the expansion of the business, the CEO pointed out that the current properties in Azerbaijan have sufficient potential for the company to grow the business in the medium term.
“However, as a successful mining company we often receive offers outside Azerbaijan. As businessmen, we obviously look at these opportunities but very carefully and prudently. It must be a country that offers a stable and transparent legal framework, mining code etc, with well-developed infrastructure,” he explained.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC is a gold, copper and silver producer with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan.
AAM and Swiss Industrial Minerals SA signed an agreement in May 2014 on selling cooper concentrate produced at Gadabay field in Azerbaijan. Based on the production sharing agreement signed with Azerbaijani government in August 1997, Anglo Asian Mining PLC 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 are stored in the government’s account.
In January-September 2018 AAM produced 54,573 ounces of gold, 144,362 ounces of silver and 1,057 tons of copper.