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TBILISI, July 18 (Reuters) - Anglo Asian Mining Plc,Azerbaijan's main gold producer, said it had increased output by54.6 percent in the first half of 2014 and planned to reach itstarget of 62,000-67,000 ounces for the year, up as much as 28.7percent from 2013.
London-listed Anglo-Asian said on Friday it raisedoutput at Azerbaijan's main mine, Gedabek, to 27,054 ounces inJanuary-June 2014 from 17,497 ounces in the same 2013 period.
Gold production at Gedabek was 15,736 ounces in the secondquarter of this year, up 39 percent from the previous quarter,when it rose 32 percent year on year to 11,318 ounces.
"In line with our improving production profile from Gedabekand Gosha, we remain confident that we will achieve our fullyear 2014 gold production target of 62,000 - 67,000 ounces," Anglo Asian Chief Executive Reza Vaziri said in a statement.
"We believe that with our cost saving initiatives such asreductions in cyanide costs and increased processing capacity atGedabek our second half of 2014 performance will be muchstronger."
Its 2013 output rose to 52,068 ounces from 50,025 ounces in2012, but the company said it missed its target last year due tounexpected weather conditions and processing issues.
Gold is produced at Gedabek and other Azeri mines under aproduction venture with Anglo Asian, in which the governmentowns 49 percent.
Anglo Asian began production at Gedabek, 350 km west of thecapital Baku, in July 2009 and plans to extract a total of 22tonnes of gold from the mine.
The company said gold sales in the first half of this yeartotalled 23,545 ounces at an average price of $1,297 per ounce.
The company commissioned an agitation leaching plant atGedabek in June 2013 and installed a Knelson concentrator inMarch this year, hoping to isolate copper sulphides that werefound to have restricted gold recoveries in the leach tanks in2013.
Silver production in the first half of 2014 was 21,924ounces, while copper production totalled 369 tonnes.
Overall, Anglo Asian, which is controlled by R.V. InvestmentGroup Services, plans to develop seven mines in westernAzerbaijan with estimated gold reserves of 430 tonnes.
The company said in May it had signed a three-year contractwith Industrial Minerals SA, an integrated trading, mining andlogistics group, to become its exclusive partner for sales ofcopper concentrate produced at Gedabek. Industrial Mineralsreplaced Swiss trading major Glencore. (Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by David Evans)
