Anglo Asian Mining has published a maiden resource estimate for its Gilar deposit in Azerbaijan of 6.10 million tonnes of mineralisation with average grades of 0.88% copper and 1.30g/t gold.
In-situ mineral resources therefore are 54,000 tonnes of copper, 255,000 ounces of gold and 46,000 tonnes of zinc.
Development of the Gilar deposit is now well underway, Anglo Asia added, with construction of the primary transport decline tunnel and a ventilation tunnel at depths of 561 metres of the main decline and 150 metres respectively.
The underground haulage mining fleet for the Gilar mine has now arrived at the Gedabek site and will be the first Caterpillar underground equipment to be deployed in Azerbaijan.
Stephen Westhead, Vice-President, commented: "This maiden mineral resource estimate under the JORC reporting code is now very robust given the quantity of drilling that provided confidence in the mineral continuity.
"Tunnelling to access the mineralisation is progressing. To complement future underground drilling, further surface drilling will test the extension of the upper zones upon completing the ongoing geophysical investigation.
"The Gilar mine will be an important contributor to the future production of the company given its high grades of both gold and copper.
“The mine's production will be critical to bridge the gap between declining grades at our existing mines at Gedabek and our larger, new concessions entering production in the medium term."