LONDON (Alliance News) - Anglo Asian Mining PLC Wednesday said gold, silver and copper production all fell in the third quarter of 2015, compounded by falling commodity prices, but said gold production in the first nine months of 2015 was up 25% year-on-year as it reiterated its full year guidance.
The Azerbaijan-based miner said gold production in the third quarter of 2015 totalled 18,165 ounces. Anglo Asian said production "remained on track", but this was down from the 18,745 ounces produced in the second quarter of 2015.
Copper production in the quarter also fell to 216 tonnes from the 236 tonnes produced in the second quarter whilst silver production dropped to 4,438 ounces from 4,527 ounces - meaning all of its production was lower quarter-on-quarter.
However, gold production in the first nine months of 2015 is still up 25% year-on-year to 54,103 ounces. Copper and silver production in the first nine months totalled 634 tonnes and 10,916 ounces, respectively.
Anglo Asian reiterated its full year production guidance to produce between 70,000 to 75,000 ounces of gold, which would represent a 16% to 24% rise from the 60,285 ounces produced in the whole of 2014. The miner said the fourth quarter has historically been its "best performing quarter".
Gold sales in the third quarter came in at 14,871 ounces at an average price of USD1,123 per ounce, pushing nine month sales to 48,165 ounces at an average price of USD1,179 per ounce.
To put that into perspective, Anglo Asian achieved an average gold price of USD1,214 per ounce in the first quarter of 2015, which then fell to USD1,193 per ounce in the second quarter, demonstrating the falling trend in prices throughout the year.
In the first half of 2014, it achieved a gold price higher than any achieved in 2015 of USD1,204 per ounce. On Wednesday, gold was trading on USD1,175 per ounce.
"In tandem with increasing our production and sales, we have been continually working to lower our production costs which at first half of 2015 were USD736 per ounce of gold. I look forward to providing further updates in due course as we continue to improve our production performance in order to deliver the utmost value for shareholders," said Chief Executive Reza Vaziri on Wednesday.
That USD736 per ounce production cost means Anglo Asian still made a healthy margin in the third quarter of around USD387 per ounce.
Copper concentrate sales in the third quarter totalled 460 dry metric tonnes, containing 246 tonnes of copper. Those sales generated a total of USD900,000.
Net debt at the end of September had risen to USD51.0 million from USD48.9 million at the end of June.
All of Anglo Asian's production comes from the Gedabek gold, copper and silver mine in Azerbaijan, and the company has now commissioned the small scale flotation plant at the site. The plant is producing a concentrate from the tailings of the agitation leach plant with a throughput of around 90 tonnes per hour. The company is currently optimising the metal recovery rates and quality of the concentrate produced.
Anglo Asian shares were down 3.7% to 6.62 pence per share on Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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Anglo Asian (AAZ)