Anglo Asian Mining PLC (AIM:AAZ), the gold and copper development company with projects in Azerbaijan, is pleased to announce that a scoping study has been completed on the Gedabek gold-copper-silver property, Trend reports quoting the statement of the Company. The scoping study concludes that the optimal treatment for Gedabek ore is a combination of open pit mining and heap leaching. This is a very positive outcome for the Company as heap leaching requires lower capital expenditure and operating costs than the originally proposed conventional CIL technology.
The Company will sell the CIL (Carbon-in-Leach) plant that is containerised and located in Singapore. It is now considered that the CIL plant previously purchased for another property is not appropriate for Gedabek. The Directors believe that given the current buoyant state of the gold mining sector the sale of the plant will be profitable in relation to the cost of the plant. Notice of Discovery and its Commerciality', under the terms of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA'), for the Gedabek property will be submitted to the Azerbaijan Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources later this month. The effect of this submission will be to commence the fifteen year period of development and production at Gedabek as defined in the PSA.