Aim-listed gold, copper and silver producer Anglo Asian has announced its highest-ever production guidance, forecasting metal production of between 82 000 and 86 000 gold-equivalent ounces (GEOs) for 2019.
The guidance compares with a target range of 78 000 GEOs to 84 000 GEOs in 2018 and actual output of 83 736 GEOs in the year.
The 2019 guidance comprises between 65 000 oz and 67 500 oz of gold and between 3 100 t and 3 300 t of copper for the year. The gold production guidance is below 2018’s output of 72 798 oz, while the copper production is significantly more than the 1 645 t the Azerbaijan-focused miner produced last year.
Anglo Asian explained that the increase in the copper guidance resulted from a full standalone operation of the flotation plant, which managed to offset the lower grades of ore processed by the agitation leaching plant.
The miner is forecasting between 28 000 GEOs and 30 000 GEOs of production in the form of copper and gold concentrate in 2019, compared with 17 791 GEOs in 2018.
CEO Reza Vaziri commented that the increasing proportion of production as copper and gold in concentrate highlighted the versatility of Anglo Asian’s processing operations.
"2019 will be another year of delivery for Anglo Asian,” he commented.