LONDON (Alliance News) - Anglo Asian Mining PLC on Thursday reiterated its production targets for 2016, as it saw its gold, copper, and silver production increase in its second quarter, and it gave a bullish outlook for its second half.
The gold, copper, and silver producer focused in Azerbaijan, is targeting between 73,000 ounces and 77,000 ounces of gold, and between 1,700 to 2,100 tonnes copper for 2016.
Its Gedabek mine produced 19,665 ounces gold in the second quarter, with 17,926 ounces contained within gold dore, compared to 14,172 ounces in the first quarter. Gold dore is a mix of gold and silver.
This takes Anglo Asian's gold production for the first half as a whole to 33,837 ounces, down from 35,938 ounces the year before.
Copper production for the second quarter was 537 tonnes, up from 432 tonnes in the first quarter, taking the total for the first half to 969 tonnes, well ahead of the 418 tonnes produced in the first half of 2015.
Finally, silver production in the quarter totalled 56,440 ounces, with 2,983 ounces contained within gold dore, up from 34,342 ounces in the first quarter. This takes the total for the half to 90,782 ounces, up from 6,477 ounces the previous year.
Second quarter gold dore sales were 15,661 ounces of gold at an average of USD1,265 per ounce, up from 12,058 ounces at an average of USD1,184 per ounce in the first quarter, helped by a strengthening of the price of gold as investors flocked to the commodity amid the uncertainties caused in the run up to, and aftermath of, the UK's vote to leave the European Union.
Anglo Asian said that it had taken the opportunity to hedge some future gold sales due to the strength of the gold price, which it said protects it against any significant downside in the price of gold, whilst still giving it exposure to any further increases in a "volatile gold market".
"We are delighted to report these highly encouraging second-quarter production numbers which show a substantial increase over the first quarter. The second half of the year has historically been our best performing half due to the seasonally better weather and our production will also benefit from the second SAG mill which is due to start operating next month," said Chief Executive Officer Reza Vaziri in a statement.
Shares in Anglo Asian Mining were up 11% at 19.10 pence Thursday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews
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Anglo Asian (AAZ)