Copper 360 reboots Rietberg mine in South Africa
This marks the first time in more than four decades that copper is mined from the O’Kiep district.
Anglo Asian Mining (LON: AAZ) has received authorization from the government of Azerbaijan to raise the wall of its tailings dam, thereby allowing the company to resume normal productions at the Gedabek mine.
In March, the gold-silver-copper producer submitted all documents to the government seeking to raise the wall of its existing tailings dam, which is almost full. A further 7-metre raise was planned, taking the wall to its final design height.
The company subsequently received technical confirmation and a positive environmental report from government authorities regarding its proposal. The construction design of the wall raise was also approved by the corresponding ministry.
With the receipt of authorization, Anglo Asian said it will immediately start work on raising the tailings dam wall. The raise is expected to be carried out in two stages, with the first raise of 2.5 metres completed approximately three months after permission is obtained.
According to CEO Reza Vaziri, Anglo Asian has already started mobilizing resources to restart flotation and agitation leaching processing and expects to recommence full production in approximately one week.
“This marks the end of a year-long disruption, and we look forward to normalizing production,” Vaziri said in a news release. “We also look forward to making swift progress on our strategic growth plan to transition to a multi-asset, mid-tier primarily copper producer by 2028.”
Anglo Asian is expected to issue an annual production guidance for 2024 following the resumption of full production. For the first half of the year, it produced 5,270 gold-equivalent ounces across its operations in Azerbaijan, which is down significantly from last year’s 23,391 ounces.
Shares of Anglo Asian Mining jumped 7.8% as of 4:35 p.m. GMT in London, for a market capitalization of £106.5 million ($135m).
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