US has second-longest mine development timeline in the world, S&P Global says
Mines in the US go from discovery to production in an average of 29 years.
Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ) disclosed Tuesday a surge in gold production at its flagship gold, copper and silver mine, in Azerbaijan, in the third quarter.
In the three months to September 30, Anglo Asian produced from heap leaching 14,044 ounces of the yellow metal compared to 11,716 ounces in the previous quarter at its Gedabek mine.
The miner said that its target for the full year is still set between 49,000 and 51,000 ounces of gold with 26,000 ounces of silver.
Silver dore production for Q3 totalled 3,168 ounces compared to 4,504 oz ounces in Q2.
CEO Reza Vaziri said the increase in gold production was the result of further fine tuning of the heap leach stacking operation and improved weather conditions in the resource rich Caspian nation.
“We have been actively exploring and developing the greater Gedabek area and have to date delineated a JORC reserve base in excess of 700,000 ounces of gold and a measured and indicated resource base of over 1 million ounces of gold, which has increased the life of mine of Gedabek,” he added.
Anglo Asian is constructing a new agitation leaching plant that will have a capacity to treat 100 tph of ore. It is expected to improve gold recovery of oxides and sulphides at Gedabek initially to 85% and 69% respectively and lower production costs.
The company will commission the plant in the first half of 2013, representing a major milestone in the company’s development.
As at September 30, Anglo Asian had $4.9 million in cash at the bank.
Image of Petroglyphs in the National Park Gobustan in Azerbaijan.
