The Garadagh porphyry deposit alone contains over 300,000 tonnes of copper with an in-situ value of over US$3.0bn at current prices
Anglo Asian Mining agreed terms with the Azerbaijan government over three huge new copper concessions in the country.
The new concessions, with a combined area of 882 square kilometres, will be immediately effective following ratification by the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
In a statement, Anglo Asian said it was a transformational milestone with the Garadagh porphyry deposit alone containing over 300,000 tonnes of copper with an in-situ value of over US$3.0bn at current prices.
The company said it is currently evaluating how best to exploit the economically mineable copper resources contained within the new concessions, which have considerable synergies and geographical proximity with it existing mining properties.
Two of the new concessions border the existing Gedabek and Gosha Contract Areas and contain the large-scale Garadagh porphyry deposit and the adjacent Xarxar copper deposit.
A comprehensive exploration programme to prepare JORC compliant mineral resource and ore reserve estimates will commence after the ratification of the new concessions.
Development will follow the finalisation of the ore reserve estimates and the company anticipates ore will be extracted by open-pit mining.
The third new concession area is called Demirli and is adjacent to the Kyzlbulag Contract Area in the Karabakh economic region.
Demirli contains the Demirli copper-molybdenum deposit with an unverified estimated resource of 275,000 tonnes of copper and 3,200 tonnes of molybdenum.
As part of the agreement, Anglo Asian will relinquish its rights to the Soutely mine in the Kalbajar district after an assessment of the security risks.
The three new concessions will be incorporated into the company’s existing Production Sharing Agreement.
Reza Vaziri, Anglo Asian’s chief executive, said: “The recent cessation of hostilities with Armenia has presented an opportunity for Anglo Asian to develop its remaining contract areas, granted in 1998 (when its PSA was ratified), and to significantly accelerate its growth strategy towards becoming a mid-tier gold and copper producer.
Stephen Westhead, vice-president, added: “In regard to Garadagh and Xarxar, we have considerable expertise and understanding of the area after extensive exploration and mining around Gedabek for many years. These new concessions, which have previously had some exploration, represent great upside potential for Anglo Asian in terms of additional resources.
“The substantial volumes of copper within the Garadagh and Demirli deposits significantly strengthen our copper inventory and future”
