Anglo Asian Mining sees gold production at Azerbaijan's Gedabek fall 31% in H1
BAKU. July 25 (Interfax) - British company Anglo Asian Mining (AAM) which operates gold deposits in Azerbaijan produced 23,218 ounces of gold at the Gedabek deposit in January-June 2017, down 31.4% year-on-year, the company said.
In addition, 85,087 ounces of silver and 1,322 tonnes of copper were mined at the deposit.
The statement said that the company produced 6,431 tonnes of copper concentrate in the reporting period.
AAM sold gold bars weighing 15,689 ounces in H1, down 43.6% at a price of $1,238 per ounce and 5,396 tonnes of copper concentrate for $10.528 million.
As of June 30, 2017 the company's total debt stood at $30.4 million. The debt consists of a $6.2 million loan from the Amsterdam Trade Bank, $6.2 million from Russia's Gazprombank, a $3.9 million loan from the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) and a $0.5 million credit line from IBA, a $6.2 million loan from Azerbaijan's Pasha Bank, $0.5 million from Atlas Copco, $2.6 million from Turkey's YapiKredi Bank, $0.5 million from Kapital bank and $3.8 million from the company director.
Anglo Asian Mining (AAM) Plc mines gold and silver in Azerbaijan under a production-sharing agreement signed in 1997, by which Azerbaijan has a 51% stake and AAM - 49%. The contract is for the development of six fields in Azerbaijan, two of them in Gedabek, which is 450 km from Baku, one in Nakhichevan and three in Kelbajar and Zangelan in Nagorny Karabakh. According to the contract, the six deposits should yield 400 tonnes of gold and 2,500 tonnes of silver.
The first gold production at Gedabek started in 2009 and the first silver in 2010. The Gosha field produced its first gold in Q3 2013. Gadir, an underground mine 700 meters from the Gedabek open pit, commenced production in 2015.