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Q3 and 9M 2023 Production and Operations review

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Anglo Asian Mining plc ("Anglo Asian" or the "Company"), the AIM-listed gold, copper and silver producer operating in Azerbaijan, provides a production, sales and operations review for the three and nine months to 30 September 2023 ("Q3 2023" and "9M 2023" respectively).

Operational update

  • Flotation processing and agitation leaching have been suspended since the beginning of August 2023

o Heap leaching continued throughout Q3 2023

o Environmental report by Micon International Co Limited ("Micon") released in September 2023, showing no environmental contamination at Gedabek

o Formal protocol to restart operations now being agreed with the Government of Azerbaijan

Extensive plant maintenance carried out during Q3 2023

Production update

  • Q3 2023 production of 5,295 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") (Q3 2022: 14,309 GEOs)
  • 9M 2023 total production of 28,686 GEOs (9M 2022: 43,081 GEOs)
  • Updated Full Year 2023 ("FY 2023") production guidance of 30,000 to 34,000 GEOs issued with the interim results

o Assumes no flotation and agitation leaching production for the rest of 2023

o Guidance will be updated if flotation and agitation production is restarted before the end of the year

Cash and inventory update

  • Net cash of $1.6 million at 30 September 2023 (30 June 2023: $9.6 million) with the following payments made in Q3 2023

o $4.6 million payment of final dividend for 2022

Gross cash of $10.8 million at 30 September 2023

o $3.5 million loan drawn down from International Bank of Azerbaijan in early July 2023

o $5.7 million loan drawn down from Access Bank in August 2023

  • $10 million tranche drawn down from the International Bank of Azerbaijan under the Company's revolving credit facility in early October 2023
  • The Company had inventory at market value of $7.0 million at 30 September 2023 (gold and silver bullion of $5.9 million and copper concentrate of $1.1 million)
  • 1,000 ounces of gold bullion sold in Q3 2023 at an average price of $1,959 per ounce under the gold hedging programmes yielding additional sales revenue of $27,075

o Total gold bullion sales in Q3 2023 of 2,900 ounces at an average of $1,949 per ounce

Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri commented:

"This was a challenging quarter for the Company with operations impacted by the environmental inspection that was ordered by the Government of Azerbaijan. Our focus was to fully cooperate with the government and ensure the environmental inspection was carried out properly.

The inspection's findings highlighted areas for improvement regarding Company response systems, resources and protocols. We are now working with the government to ensure these issues are very quickly addressed. Nevertheless, we were pleased that allegations of environmental contamination were proved to be without merit with the report recognising the Company operates within accepted high industry standards and guidelines. We look forward to updating the market in due course regarding the resumption of agitation leaching and flotation processing at Gedabek and progress against our stated growth strategy."

Anglo Asian Mining plc (AIM:AAZ) is a gold, copper and silver producer with a high-quality portfolio of production and exploration assets in Azerbaijan. The Company produced 57,618 gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs") for the year ended 31 December 2022.

On 30 March 2023, the Company published its strategic plan for growth which shows a clearly defined path for the Company to transition to a multi-asset, mid-tier copper and gold producer by 2028, by which time copper will be the principal product of the Company, with forecast production of around 36,000 copper equivalent tonnes. It plans to achieve this growth by bringing into production four new mines during the period 2024 to 2028 at Zafar, Gilar, Xarxar and Garadag.

Production overview

Q3 2023

  • Total production of 5,295 GEOs (Q3 2022: 14,309 GEOs)
  • Gold production of 4,163 ounces (Q3 2022: 11,087 ounces):

o 4,008 ounces contained within gold doré

o 4 ounces from sulfidisation, acidification, recycling and thickening ("SART") processing

o 151 ounces from flotation processing

  • Copper production totalled 251 tonnes (Q3 2022: 609 tonnes):

o 44 tonnes from SART processing

o 207 tonnes from flotation processing

  • Silver production totalled 5,696 ounces (Q3 2022: 45,063 ounces):

o 1,490 ounces contained within gold doré

o 2,232 ounces from SART processing

o 1,974 ounces from flotation processing

9M 2023

  • Total production of 28,686 GEOs (9M 2022: 43,081 GEOs)
  • Gold production of 18,771 ounces (9M 2022: 31,993 ounces)
  • Copper production totalled 2,111 tonnes (9M 2022: 1,892 tonnes)
  • Silver production totalled 50,272 ounces (9M 2022: 144,562 ounces)

Sales

  • Q3 2023 gold bullion sales of 2,900 ounces at an average of $1,949 per ounce (Q3 2022: 10,000 ounces sold at an average of $1,727 per ounce)
  • Q3 2023 copper concentrate shipments totalled 2,358 dry metric tonnes ("dmt") with a sales value of $3.1 million (excluding Government of Azerbaijan profit share) (Q3 2022: 1,718 dmt with a sales value of $3.4 million)

Company financials

  • The Company had net cash of $1.6 million at 30 September 2023 ($9.6 million at 30 June 2023). The Company made the following payments in Q3 2022

o Final dividend for 2022: $4.6 million

Gedabek - mining, detailed production and sales

The Company mined the following amounts and grades of ore in the nine months to 30 September 2023:

6 months to 30 June 20233 months to 30 September 20239 months to 30 September 2023
MineOre minedAverage gold gradeOre minedAverage gold gradeOre minedAverage gold grade
(tonnes)(g/t)(tonnes)(g/t)(tonnes)(g/t)
Open pit1,006,4830.3572,8190.321,079,3020.35
Gadir - u/g85,2011.598,4242.3493,6251.65
Total1,091,6840.4581,2430.531,172,9270.45

* There have been some minor changes to the previously reported figures following the reconciliation of ore stockpiles.

The Company processed the following amounts and grades of ore by leaching for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

Quarter endedOre processedGold grade of ore processed
Heap leach pad crushed ore (tonnes)Heap leach pad ROM ore (tonnes)Agitation leaching plant* (tonnes)Heap leach pad crushed ore (g/t)Heap leach pad ROM ore (g/t)Agitation leaching plant* (g/t)
31 March 2022115,173273,577144,2750.750.481.63
30 June 202282,814299,762162,2390.780.531.40
30 September 202292,398302,714162,6690.810.571.42
31 December 202224,606213,120156,2850.720.561.42
FY 2022314,9911,089,173625,4680.770.561.43
31 March 202394,518196,59562,0060.740.491.3
30 June 202356,522202,788105,2130.750.461.4
H1 2023151,040399,383167,2190.750.491.4
30 September 202325,69034,621-0.830.45-

* includes previously heap leached ore.

The Company processed the following amounts of ore and contained metal by flotation for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

Quarter endedOre processedGold contentSilver contentCopper content
(tonnes)(ounces)(ounces)(tonnes)
31 March 2022104,4751,92133,522577
30 June 2022114,0991,29324,209745
30 September 2022143,8381,31424,582724
31 December 2022119,8191,38918,003670
FY 2022482,2315,917100,3162,716
31 March 2023192,5161,48719,7871,133
30 June 2023190,5931,03310,3801,191
H1 2023383,1092,52030,1672,324
30 September 202362,3694784,358363

The following table summarises gold doré production and sales at Gedabek for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

Quarter ended Gold produced* (ounces) Silver produced* (ounces) Gold sales** (ounces) Gold Sales price ($/ounce) 31 March 2022 8,963 7,574 7,519 1,904 30 June 2022 10,137 7,620 3,754 1,895 30 September 2022 10,473 6,949 10,000 1,727 31 December 2022 10,437 4,820 13,645 1,727 FY 2022 40,010 26,963 34,918 1,783 31 March 2023 5,965 2,841 5,719 1,895 30 June 2023 7,375 3,593 4,787 1,992 H1 2023 13,340 6,434 10,506 1,939 30 September 2023 4,008 1,490 2,900 1,949 Notes

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excluding Government of Azerbaijan's share

The gold and silver production from agitation and heap leaching for FY 2022 Q1 to Q3 2023 is as follows:

Quarter endedGoldSilver
Agitation leaching (ounces)Heap leaching (ounces)Total (ounces)Agitation leaching (ounces)Heap leaching (ounces)Total (ounces)
31 March 20225,6743,2898,9634,8032,7717,574
30 June 20226,1963,94110,1374,6542,9667,620
30 Sept 20225,5174,95610,4733,6733,2766,949
31 Dec 20225,8314,60610,4372,6842,1364,820
FY 202223,21816,79240,01015,81411,13926,963
31 March 20232,1053,8605,9651,0771,7642,841
30 June 20233,4633,9127,3751,7351,8583,593
H1 20235,5687,77213,3402,8123,6226,434
30 Sept 2023-4,0084,008-1,4901,490

The following table summarises copper concentrate production from both the Company's SART and flotation plants at Gedabek for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023:

ConcentrateCopperGoldSilver
production*content*content*content*
(dmt)(tonnes)(ounces)(ounces)
2022
Quarter ended 31 March
SART processing3301881225,114
Flotation2,5863801,06517,986
Total2,9165681,07743,100
Quarter ended 30 June
SART processing3161681425,582
Flotation3,81154771515,672
Total4,12771572941,254
Quarter ended 30 September
SART processing3672083324,077
Flotation2,80540158114,094
Total3,17260961438,171
Quarter ended 31 December
SART processing4382443920,833
Flotation2,64838064511,725
Total3,08662468432,558
2023
Quarter ended 31 March
SART processing364190258,750
Flotation4,54465775110,975
Total4,90884777619,725
Quarter ended 30 June
SART processing2721461610,348
Flotation5,6138674768,069
Total5,8851,01349218,417
Quarter ended 30 September
SART processing854442,232
Flotation1,3162071511,974
Total1,4012511554,206

Note

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share.

The following table summarises total copper concentrate production and sales for FY 2022 and Q1 to Q3 2023. Note that sales of concentrates are initially recorded at provisional amounts until agreement of final assay.

ConcentrateCopperGoldSilverConcentrateConcentrate
production*content*content*content*sales**sales**
(dmt)(tonnes)(ounces)(ounces)(dmt)($000)
Quarter ended
31 March 20222,9165681,07743,1001,4773,248
30 June 20224,12771572941,2544,6428,127
30 September 20223,17260961438,1711,7183,378
31 December 20223,08662468432,5584,6067,487
FY 202213,3012,5163,104155,08312,44322,240
31 March 20234,90884777619,7251,1472,743
30 June 20235,8851,01349218,4175,5017,678
H1 202310,7931,8601,26838,1426,64810,421
30 September 20231,4012511554,2062,3583,066

Notes

* including Government of Azerbaijan's share

** excludes Government of Azerbaijan's share

Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.

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