Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 14
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Anglo-Asian Mining PLC (AAM), gold producer in Azerbaijan, produced 17,193 ounces of gold in Q1 2015, which is 52 percent more than in 2014, the company's statement posted on its website said April 14.
For comparison, some 11,318 ounces of gold were produced in January-March 2014. The company produced 52,107 ounces of gold as of 2014.
AAM plans to produce 70,000-75,000 ounces of gold by late 2015.
The company sold 17,206 ounces of gold at an average price of $1,214 per ounce in the first quarter of this year.
"The maximum volume of gold production was ensured in the first quarter of 2015," AAM director general Reza Vaziri said. "This testifies to the fact that the measures taken in 2014 to improve the productivity start yielding positive results."
Copper production for Q1 2015 totaled 182 metric tons from SART processing, or 11.22 percent less than in Q4 of 2014 (205 metric tons) and 29 percent more than in January-March 2014 (141 metric tons).
The copper concentrate shipments to the customer totaled 272 dry metric tons, containing 162 metric tons of copper during the reporting period.
Silver production for Q1 2015 totaled 1,950 ounces, which is almost half of the silver production volume in the same period of 2014. By comparison, the company produced 3,890 ounces of silver in Q1 of 2014.
The company's net debt totaled $50.7 million as of March 31, 2015 ($52.4 million as of Dec.31, 2014)
The company's debt to Amsterdam Trade Bank was $34.5 million, International Bank of Azerbaijan - $13.4 million, Atlas Copco -$ 0.8 million, Yapi Kredi - $0.7 million and PASHA Bank - $1.8 million.
Based on the production sharing agreement signed with Azerbaijani government in August 1997, Anglo Asian Mining PLC has the right to develop six fields in southwest Azerbaijan: 'Gadabay', 'Ordubad', 'Gosha Bulag', 'Gizil Bulag', 'Vejnali' and 'Soyutlu'.
AAM and Swiss Industrial Minerals SA signed an agreement in May 2014 on selling cooper concentrate produced at Gadabay field.
The contract signed for the period of three years envisages the purchase of copper concentrate by the Swiss company. Industrial Minerals will purchase both dry and wet copper concentrate.
The gold produced at the fields is sent to Switzerland for purification. The ingots are delivered to Azerbaijan and stored in the government's account.
Edited by CN
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