Anglo Asian Mining PLC Regulatory News (AAZ)

19 Mar 2009 07:00



19 March 2009 AIM:AAZ

Anglo Asian Mining plc

Update on Gedabek Gold Project

Mine pre-stripping completed

First feed of the leach pad has commenced

Start up of ADR plant expected in the second half of April

First gold pour anticipated during May 2009

Further to the announcement of 26 January, Anglo Asian Mining plc ("the Company") today provides an update on the construction of the Gedabek project in Azerbaijan.

Mine pre-stripping has been completed and the first touch down on the ore body has been achieved on the north side of the mine. Approximately 130,000 tonnes of ore, derived from historical workings at the site, are stockpiled at the plant. This represents 1.5 months of production.

The leach pad, barren leach solution (BLS) pond and pregnant leach solution (PLS) pond were completed by the end of January 2009. The crusher has been installed and is now working effectively. 

The adsorption, desorption, refinery (ADR) and sulphidisation, acidification, recycling, and thickening (SART) building and covering were completed in mid February. The installation of the remaining equipment, piping and electronics for the ADR and SART plants is expected to be completed by the middle of April. 

The first feed to the leach pad commenced on 18 March and it is expected that the first cell of the leach pad will be irrigated during the first week of April, with the first gold pour anticipated during May 2009.

In order to accommodate the volume of ore to be leached over the projected mine life and to cater for any future extension, the Company and its consultant CQA have commenced studies for the expansion of the heap leach operations at Gedabek. Expansion of the current leach pad location is constrained by the potential for land slip in the area and the Company considers that its capacity will not be adequate for the ultimate life of mine. Investigations of other locations in the immediate vicinity of the mine are under way.

The Company is in advanced discussions with the International Bank of Azerbaijan concerning the arrangement of a working capital and letter of credit facility in addition to the existing $25 million loan facility currently in place. In anticipation of a successful conclusion to these discussions, on March 3, an interim loan of $500,000 was provided by Reza Vaziri, a director of the Company, in order to provide additional working capital. This loan was made on an interest free basis.

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Notes to editors:

The ADR process involves gold being absorbed from the leach solution by ion exchange using resin. The gold is then desorbed from the resin into a solution from which the gold will be recovered by electro-winning. In order to remove the dissolved copper from the deleachant, the copper in the solution will be sulphidised using sodium sulphite and the cyanide in the solution will be recovered as sodium cyanide in the SART process. The resulting cemented copper will be thickened and filtered into saleable material.