Last checked at 8 Jan 2013 12:45
Anglo Asian Mining plc / Ticker: AAZ / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
8 January 2013
Anglo Asian Mining plc ('Anglo Asian' or 'the Company')
Further US$25.5 million loan committed from IBA for the construction of the new agitation plant at Gedabek
Further to the announcement dated 20 September 2012, Anglo Asian Mining plc, the AIM listed gold producer, is pleased to announce that the International Bank of Azerbaijan ('IBA') has committed an additional US$25.5 million to fund the final stages of the construction of an agitation leaching plant to improve gold recoveries at Anglo Asian's flagship Gedabek gold/copper/silver mine in Azerbaijan, with the view to commissioning in H1 2013. This is in addition to the US$18 million already committed to the Company by the IBA and brings the total committed funding for the agitation leaching plant from the IBA to US$43.5 million to date. This commitment of further funding is in line with the letter of intent received by the Company from the IBA, which states that, subject to internal consideration and approval, it would provide up to US$60 million to the Company in total.
Construction of the new agitation plant is well underway with the tailing dam and pipe route construction, plant construction, tank fabrication and steel structure all on schedule and the equipment installation due to commence in January 2013. The plant is expected to be completed within the original budget of US$52million and is targeted to treat 100 tonnes of ore per hour initially and improve gold recoveries for oxide and sulphide materials to 85% and 69% respectively.
As at 31 December 2012 the Company had drawn down US$29.6 million of the available funding.
Under the terms of the loan agreement, an all inclusive annual interest rate of 12% will apply on funds drawn, payable on a quarterly basis. The loan can be drawn down in tranches of up to US$1,500,000. Repayment will be within 36 months in equal quarterly instalmentsstarting two years from the date that each tranche of funds is drawn down. There is no penalty for early repayment.
**ENDS**
For further information please visit www.angloasianmining.com or contact:
Reza Vaziri | Anglo Asian Mining plc | Tel: +994 12 596 3350 |
Sean Duffy | Anglo Asian Mining plc | Tel: +994 12 596 3350 |
Ewan Leggat | SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3463 2260 |
Laura Littley | SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3463 2260 |
Felicity Edwards | St Brides Media & Finance Ltd | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Lottie Brocklehurst | St Brides Media & Finance Ltd | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 |
Notes:
Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold producer in Central Asia with a broad portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company has a 1,962 sq km prospective exploration portfolio, assembled from analysis of historic Soviet geological data and held under a Production Sharing Agreement ('PSA') based on the Azeri oil industry. The Company developed Azerbaijan's first operating gold/copper mine, Gedabek, which commenced gold production in May 2009. Gold production for the year ended 31 December 2011 totalled 57,068 oz of gold and it is targeted to reach 49-51,000 oz of gold for FY 2012.
Anglo Asian is actively looking to exploit its first mover advantage in Azerbaijan to identify additional projects, as well as looking for other properties in order to fulfil its expansion ambitions and become a mid-tier gold and base metal production company.