Last checked at 29 Jun 2020 07:00
Anglo Asian Mining plc / Ticker: AAZ / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
29 June 2020
Anglo Asian Mining PLC
Annual General Meeting - responses to questions submitted to the Company
Prior to the meeting
Anglo Asian Mining PLC ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM listed gold, copper and silver producer focused on Azerbaijan, is pleased to provide responses to questions it has received from shareholders.
QUESTION FROM SHAREHOLDER | COMPANY RESPONSE |
How are you planning to grow the Company and increase shareholders value and increase annual production over 100,000 gold equivalent ounces? | There are three pillars to the Company's growth strategy: - Find and develop new deposits in its existing concessions - Obtain and develop further concessions in Azerbaijan - Pursue opportunities outside Azerbaijan |
What can the Company do about market makers always having a 10p spread on their buy and sell price? | It is not appropriate for the Company to talk to its market makers about their pricing as they do not act for the Company and have no obligations to the Companies in which they trade. However, the Company is currently reviewing its options with regards to how its shares are traded. |
When are you going to give information on the PSA renewal? | The Company is already starting the process of renewing its PSA and it believes this will be routine Please refer to the letter from Reza Vaziri (CEO) to shareholders dated 23 June 2020 which was released via RNS. |
What initiatives have management taken to address the undervalued share price? | The Company does not comment on its share price, although the Board continue to develop a strategy that has been outlined in recent announcements in order to maximise shareholder value. |
Is the Company considering issuing bonus shares or a share split to increase liquidity and its share price? | No. Trading volumes are healthy when compared to other AIM listed companies. |
We were told last year that the Company was in discussions with the Government of Azerbaijan which everybody assumed was either a takeover of the Company or it acquiring its assets in Azerbaijan. Are these discussions still taking place and if so, when are we going to hear about what has been said? | Please refer to the letter from Reza Vaziri (CEO) to shareholders dated 23 June 2020 which was released as an RNS. |
If the exploration continues to go well at Ordubad, approximately when would you anticipate construction of a mine and subsequent first pour of gold? Is an annual production of 250,000 ounces feasible? | Exploration is anticipated to take two to three years assuming full access, followed by reserve estimation and mine construction which would take an addition one to two years. For the principal gold assets feasibility is a future component of the project. Our current exploration strategy is also targeting the porphyry-style copper, or copper-gold, mineralisation. Deposits of this type typically contain resources of 100 to 350 million tonnes at grades of 0.30 to 0.55 per cent. copper. Additionally, the Company has identified a number of high-grade gold occurrences (refer to the Company's 2019 Ordubad exploration reports) which if progressed to a low cost production unit may themselves possibly yield gold in the range of 20,000 to 50,000 ounces per year. However, until exploration and feasibility studies are completed, it is impossible to say what level of production is capable of being sustained and the timescales for this. |
The five new exploration targets, when they come on stream from 2022 - 2025 will increase the gold output of the company significantly. Could you give some approximate indication of the scale of increase that might be expected if all goes well and also the timing - for example when would you hope that output would reach or exceed 100 000 ounces / year? | Assuming these discoveries are viable, it is likely that gold production will increase. The scale of increase and timing of production is dependent on exploration results. 100,000 ounces or more per year output is the next target and the Company will continue to work on its development to attain the targets as soon as possible. |
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 until the release of this announcement.
**ENDS**
For further information please contact:
Reza Vaziri | Anglo Asian Mining plc | Tel: +994 12 596 3350 |
Bill Morgan | Anglo Asian Mining plc | Tel: +994 502 910 400 |
Stephen Westhead | Anglo Asian Mining plc | Tel: +994 502 916 894 |
Ewan Leggat | SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
Soltan Tagiev | SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Broker | Tel + 44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
Camilla Horsfall | Blytheweigh Financial | Tel: + 44(0) 20 7138 3224 |
Megan Ray | Blytheweigh Financial | Tel: + 44(0) 20 7138 3224 |
Notes:
Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company has a 1,962 square kilometre portfolio, assembled from analysis of historic Soviet geological data and held under a Production Sharing Agreement modelled on the Azeri oil industry.
The Company's main operating location is the Gedabek contract area ("Gedabek") which is a 300 square kilometre area in the Lesser Caucasus mountains in western Azerbaijan. The Company developed Azerbaijan's first operating gold/copper/silver mine at Gedabek which commenced gold production in May 2009. Mining at Gedabek was initially from its main open pit which is an open cast mine with a series of interconnected pits. The Company also operates the high grade Gadir underground mine which is co-located at the Gedabek site. In September 2017, production commenced at the Ugur open pit mine, a recently discovered gold ore deposit at Gedabek. The Company has a second underground mine, Gosha, which is 50 kilometres from Gedabek. Ore mined at Gosha is processed at Anglo Asian's Gedabek plant.
The Company produced 81,399 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") for the year ended 31 December 2019. Gedabek is a polymetallic ore deposit that has gold together with significant concentrations of copper in the main open pit mine, and an oxide gold-rich zone at Ugur. The Company therefore employs a series of flexible processing routes to optimise metal recoveries and efficiencies. The Company produces gold doré through agitation and heap leaching operations, copper concentrate from its Sulphidisation, Acidification, Recycling, and Thickening (SART) plant and also a copper and precious metal concentrate from its flotation plant.
The Company has a production target for the year to 31 December 2020 of 65,000 ounces to 67,000 ounces of gold and 2,200 tonnes to 2,400 tonnes of copper. This total production target expressed as gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") at budgeted metal prices is between 75,000 GEOs and 80,000 GEOS.
Anglo Asian is also actively seeking to exploit its first mover advantage in Azerbaijan to identify additional projects, as well as looking for other properties elsewhere in order to fulfil its expansion ambitions and become a mid-tier gold and copper metal production company.