16 January 2023

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q4 and FY 2022 Production and Operations review

FY 2022 production of 57,618 gold equivalent ounces at the top end of guidance

Year-end cash of $20.3 million

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM-listed gold, copper and silver producer primarily operating in Azerbaijan, is pleased to provide an operational and production review for the fourth quarter ("Q4 2022") and twelve months to 31 December 2022 ("FY 2022").

Production

·  Total FY 2022 production of 57,618 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs"), at top end of the 54,000 to 58,000 GEOs guidance (FY 2021: 64,610 GEOs)

·    Q4 2022 production of 14,532 GEOs (Q4 2021: 15,949 GEOs)

Operations

·    Significant progress made at Zafar, with a number of developments including

o Portal construction commenced

o Mine design almost finalised

o Underground mining fleet and ancillary equipment ordered

·  Flotation plant expansion underway, which will double the processing capacity of the existing flotation plant and provide additional operational flexibility

o Equipment ordered for an additional flotation line to produce a zinc concentrate

o This expansion forms part of the Company's increase in throughput capacity in the short and medium term

·   Mine development at Gilar is well underway

o Preliminary mineral resource published, yielding very encouraging results

o Construction of an exploration / development decline into the ore body has started, while targeted surface drilling continues

·    Exploration of XarXar is ramping up

o Tunnelling into the mineral zone continues

o Surface drilling continues

Cash and inventory

·   Cash of $20.3 million at 31 December 2022 (30 September 2022: $15.3 million), with the following significant payments made during Q4 2022:

o 2022 interim dividend of $4.6 million

o Initial payment for Zafar underground mining fleet of $0.5 million

·    Inventory (at market value) of $3.6 million at 31 December 2022 (gold and silver bullion of $2.5 million and copper concentrate of $1.1 million)

Post-year end, the Company made its third investment in Libero Copper & Gold of CAN$390,000 (US$289,00) to maintain its 19.8 per cent. shareholding.

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented: "I am very pleased to report another important quarter and year for Anglo Asian. We have made significant progress at a number of assets, namely Zafar, Gilar and XarXar, which will be critical to providing production in the near-term. The expansion of our flotation plant will also provide significant operational flexibility as we ramp up production in the medium-term.

Following the acquisition of three new contract areas in mid-2021, the Company has been formulating a strategy to transition into a mid-tier, copper-focused miner, accelerating our production with the intention of capitalising on the global decarbonisation agenda. This strategy is within the final stages of its development, and I look forward to updating the market on this during Q1 2023."

Note that all references to "$" are to United States dollars and "CAN$" are to Canadian dollars. An exchange rate of US$1 = CAN$1.35 has been used throughout.

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, which was incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, until the release of this announcement.

For further information please contact:

Notes to editors

Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer in south-west Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company produced 57,618 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") for the year ended 31 December 2022.  

In December 2021, the Company undertook a private placement which acquired 19.8 per cent. of Libero Copper & Gold Corporation ("Libero"). Libero is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada and owns, or has the option to acquire, several copper exploration properties in North and South America, including Mocoa in Colombia, one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-molybdenum resources. Two further follow-on investments have been made in Libero to maintain the Company's shareholding at 19.8 per cent.

On 5 July 2022, the Parliament of Azerbaijan ratified amendments to the Company's Production Sharing Agreement, which granted it legal title to three additional concessions with a combined area of 882 square kilometres, including the Garadagh porphyry copper deposit, with a Soviet classified resource of over 300,000 tonnes of copper. https://www.angloasianmining.com/

Production and sales overview

Q4 2022 production

·    Total production of 14,532 GEOs (Q4 2021: 15,949 GEOs), comprising of:

o  11,121 ounces of gold (Q4 2021: 11,589 ounces):

§ 10,437 ounces contained within gold doré

§ 39 ounces from sulfidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening ("SART") processing

§ 645 ounces from flotation processing

o  624 tonnes of copper (Q4 2021: 743 tonnes):

§ 244 tonnes from SART processing

§ 380 tonnes from flotation processing

o  37,378 ounces of silver (Q4 2021: 38,673 ounces):

§ 4,820 ounces contained within gold doré

§ 20,833 ounces from SART processing

§ 11,725 ounces from flotation processing

FY 2022 production

·    Total production of 57,618 GEOs (FY 2021: 64,610 GEOs), including:

o  43,114 ounces of gold (FY 2021: 48,680 ounces)

o  2,516 tonnes of copper (FY 2021: 2,649 tonnes)

o  182,046 ounces of silver (FY 2021: 154,515 ounces)

Q4 2022 Sales

·    Q4 2022 gold bullion sales of 13,645 ounces at an average of $1,727 per ounce (Q4 2021: 13,153 ounces sold at an average of $1,825 per ounce)

·   Q4 2022 copper concentrate shipments totalled 4,606 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $7.5 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q4 2021: 4,132 dmt with a sales value of $8.9 million)

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the 12 months to 31 December 2022:

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching for FY 2021 and 2022:

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation for FY 2021 and 2022:

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2021 and 2022:

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excluding Government of Azerbaijan's share

The gold and silver production from agitation and heap leaching for FY 2022 is as follows:

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2021 and 2022:

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 2021 and 2022. Note that sales of concentrates are initially recorded as provisional amounts until agreement of final assay.

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

**ENDS**