Anglo Asian Mining PLC on Tuesday said its full-year gold production target is unchanged, as it begins to restart operations after agreeing an environmental action plan with the Government of Azerbaijan.

The stock was surged up by 42% to 70.93 pence per share late on Tuesday morning in London.

The Azerbaijan-focused gold, copper and silver producer said it signed a protocol with the government on an ‘environmental action plan’, based on measures identified in the recent environmental audit conducted by Micon International Ltd.

Micon visited Anglo Asian’s Gebabek gold mine in late July, to carry out the full inspection at the government’s request, based on allegations of environmental contamination.

In September, Anglo Asian reported that Gedabek’s radiation levels were aligned with natural background conditions for the area, no issues were found with air quality, and no cyanide was found in any soil sample above the limits of analytical detection.

Anglo Asian said upgrades identified by the audit include improved handling and storage of reagents and other chemicals, implementing plans for emergencies such as spills or ‘a cyanide incident’, and a feasibility study for the alternative storage of tailings. The firm must also establish a community relations department, and a database for environmental monitoring.

Anglo Asian said it has agreed to implement the majority of these measures by the end of next year, and that none of the upgrades will require ‘significant expenditure’.

The company ‘is now free to restart all its operations’, with mining restarting immediately. This, Anglo Asian said, will allow gold dore and copper concentrate production to return to their former levels. It also said it is accelerating development of the Gilar mine, and is ‘actively collaborating’ with authorities ‘to ensure the successful execution’ of work to further raise the wall of the existing tailings dam at its flotation plant.

For 2023, Anglo Asian maintained its full-year production guidance of between 30,000 and 34,000 gold equivalent ounces.

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