Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ) revealed improving financials in the first half thanks to robust gold production from the Gedabek mine in Azerbaijan.
Gedabek set a new gold production record with 35,938 ounces in the six months to June 30, compared with 27,054 ounces in the same period of 2014. Gold sales improved accordingly, up to 33,295 ounce sold at an average price of US$1,204 per ounce.
The mine yielded 689 tonnes of copper concentrate production and 6,477 ounces of silver, versus 646 tonnes and 21,924 ounces respectively.
Revenues improved to US$41.8mln from US$32.7mln in the first half of last year, and as a result it reported a gross profit of US$1.9mln (it had a gross loss of US$0.8mln in H1 2014).
Losses before tax narrowed to US$4.1mln, from US$7.5mln last year.
Operating cash flow improved to US$10.7mln, versus US$2.1mln, and during the period net debt reduced to US$48.7mln from US$52.4mln. AAZ ended the first half with US$1.8mln of cash, and had US$1.4mln of unused credit facility.
The company said that production has been above management’s plan, with 50,779 ounces unearthed between January 1 and September 13, and it is on target to produce between 70,000 to 75,000 ounces for the full year.
On target production would represent growth of 16% to 24% on the 60,285 ounces produced last year.
Chairman Khosrow Zamani, in his statement, said: “We continue to build the company into a leading mid-tier gold, copper and silver producer in Caucasia.
“This has been an important time for your company, a period which marks the start of the turnaround for Anglo Asian.
“Our strategic initiatives to increase production and lower operating costs are progressing well and we believe they will return the company to profitability.”