(Sharecast News) - Anglo Asian Mining announced a significant milestone on Tuesday, with the completion of its maiden JORC 2012 mineral resource estimate for the Xarxar copper deposit in Azerbaijan.
The AIM-traded company said the mineral resource estimate for the deposit revealed 24.9 million tonnes of mineralisation with an average copper grade of 0.48%.
Within the measured plus indicated JORC categories, that included 22 million tonnes of mineralisation containing 106,000 tonnes of copper.
The total in-situ mineral resource for copper stood at 119,100 tonnes.
Anglo Asian said the estimate was based on data gathered from 66 drill holes, amounting to a cumulative length of 21,707 metres.
Notably, the exploration efforts also involved the excavation of a 470-metre exploration adit to facilitate underground drilling and sampling.
"The maiden JORC mineral resource estimate for the Xarxar deposit demonstrates that this is a substantial resource, containing over 100,000 tonnes of copper," said Anglo Asian vice-president Stephen Westhead.
"We are confident that the Xarxar mine will be a significant contributor to our future production, enabling the company to deliver future growth and attractive returns to shareholders.
"To further expand the current mineral resources estimate, work will include surface infill drilling to the east of the deposit, deposit geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling, and drilling to supply samples for further metallurgical testwork."
Westhead said additional core drill samples would also be subject to external quality assurance and control.
"This will enable mineral resources to be reclassified from indicated to measured in preparation for the full mining study."
At 1254 GMT, shares in Anglo Asian Mining were up 3.45% at 60p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
Anglo Asian (AAZ)