16 October 2023

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Q3 and 9M 2023 Production and Operations review

Gedabek set to fully resume operations following environmental inspection

Gross cash of $10.8 million (net cash of $1.6 million) at 30 September 2023

Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM-listed gold, copper and silver producer operating in Azerbaijan, provides a production, sales and operations review for the three and nine months to 30 September 2023 ("Q3 2023" and "9M 2023" respectively).

Operational update

·  Flotation processing and agitation leaching have been suspended since the beginning of August 2023

o Heap leaching continued throughout Q3 2023

o Environmental report by Micon International Co Limited ("Micon") released in September 2023, showing no environmental contamination at Gedabek

o Formal protocol to restart operations now being agreed with the Government of Azerbaijan

·    Extensive plant maintenance carried out during Q3 2023

Production update

·    Q3 2023 production of 5,295 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") (Q3 2022: 14,309 GEOs)

·    9M 2023 total production of 28,686 GEOs (9M 2022: 43,081 GEOs)

·   Updated Full Year 2023 ("FY 2023") production guidance of 30,000 to 34,000 GEOs issued with the interim results

o Assumes no flotation and agitation leaching production for the rest of 2023

o Guidance will be updated if flotation and agitation production is restarted before the end of the year

Cash and inventory update

·  Net cash of $1.6 million at 30 September 2023 (30 June 2023: $9.6 million) with the following payments made in Q3 2023

o $4.6 million payment of final dividend for 2022

·    Gross cash of $10.8 million at 30 September 2023

o $3.5 million loan drawn down from International Bank of Azerbaijan in early July 2023

o $5.7 million loan drawn down from Access Bank in August 2023

·  $10 million tranche drawn down from the International Bank of Azerbaijan under the Company's revolving credit facility in early October 2023

·   The Company had inventory at market value of $7.0 million at 30 September 2023 (gold and silver bullion of $5.9 million and copper concentrate of $1.1 million)

·   1,000 ounces of gold bullion sold in Q3 2023 at an average price of $1,959 per ounce under the gold hedging programmes yielding additional sales revenue of $27,075

o Total gold bullion sales in Q3 2023 of 2,900 ounces at an average of $1,949 per ounce

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:

"This was a challenging quarter for the Company with operations impacted by the environmental inspection that was ordered by the Government of Azerbaijan.  Our focus was to fully cooperate with the government and ensure the environmental inspection was carried out properly.  

The inspection's findings highlighted areas for improvement regarding Company response systems, resources and protocols. We are now working with the government to ensure these issues are very quickly addressed. Nevertheless, we were pleased that allegations of environmental contamination were proved to be without merit with the report recognising the Company operates within accepted high industry standards and guidelines. We look forward to updating the market in due course regarding the resumption of agitation leaching and flotation processing at Gedabek and progress against our stated growth strategy."

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:

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

On 30 March 2023, the Company published its strategic plan for growth which shows a clearly defined path for the Company to transition to a multi-asset, mid-tier copper and gold producer by 2028, by which time copper will be the principal product of the Company, with forecast production of around 36,000 copper equivalent tonnes. It plans to achieve this growth by bringing into production four new mines during the period 2024 to 2028 at Zafar, Gilar, Xarxar and Garadag. 

The Company owns approximately 17.4 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. 

https://www.angloasianmining.com/

Production overview

Q3 2023

·    Total production of 5,295 GEOs (Q3 2022: 14,309 GEOs)

·    Gold production of 4,163 ounces (Q3 2022: 11,087 ounces):

o 4,008 ounces contained within gold doré

o 4 ounces from sulfidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening ("SART") processing

o 151 ounces from flotation processing

·    Copper production totalled 251 tonnes (Q3 2022: 609 tonnes):

o 44 tonnes from SART processing

o 207 tonnes from flotation processing

·    Silver production totalled 5,696 ounces (Q3 2022: 45,063 ounces):

o 1,490 ounces contained within gold doré

o 2,232 ounces from SART processing

o 1,974 ounces from flotation processing

9M 2023

·    Total production of 28,686 GEOs (9M 2022: 43,081 GEOs)

·    Gold production of 18,771 ounces (9M 2022: 31,993 ounces)

·    Copper production totalled 2,111 tonnes (9M 2022: 1,892 tonnes)

·    Silver production totalled 50,272 ounces (9M 2022: 144,562 ounces)

Sales

·   Q3 2023 gold bullion sales of 2,900 ounces at an average of $1,949 per ounce (Q3 2022: 10,000 ounces sold at an average of $1,727 per ounce)

·   Q3 2023 copper concentrate shipments totalled 2,358 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $3.1 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q3 2022: 1,718 dmt with a sales value of $3.4 million)

Company financials

·   The Company had net cash of $1.6 million at 30 September 2023 ($9.6 million at 30 June 2023). The Company made the following payments in Q3 2022

o Final dividend for 2022: $4.6 million

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the nine months to 30 September 2023:

* There have been some minor changes to the previously reported figures following the reconciliation of ore stockpiles.

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023: 

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

* 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 Q1 to Q3 2023 is as follows:

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

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 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023. Note that sales of concentrates are initially recorded at provisional amounts until agreement of final assay.

 Notes

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

**ENDS**