The company published the following statement on its website:
Anglo Asian Mining plc, the AIM listed gold producer in Azerbaijan, is pleased to announce further positive exploration updates from new drilling undertaken just north of its flagship Gedabek gold ('Au'), copper ('Cu'), silver ('Ag') mine in western Azerbaijan.
Overview
•On-going ~3,000m drilling programme has shown continuation of a high grade gold zone just 400m north of the Gedabek operating mine area
•Elevated gold values received at previously completed core hole AIMCDD-106 had 1m interception of 101 g/t Au (3.3 g/t troy ounces per tonne ('opt') Au) from 313m to 314m with 78 g/t Ag (2.5 g/t opt Ag) andin composite 41m at 7.6 g/t Au from 296m to 337m - this has now been confirmed under JORC QA/QC standards by ALS Chemex check analyses
•Drill hole 107, just completed ~20m south of hole 86 and 20m south-west of hole 106 at a lower ground elevation and has gold interceptions higher than those in hole 106 with 1m of 207.1 g/t Au (6.66 g/t opt Au), 42.02 g/t Ag (1.35 g/t opt Ag), and 2.86% Cu from 248m to 249m or for 5m of 47.2 g/t (1.52 g/t opt Au) from 245m to 250m
•Additional gold interceptions of significance include 6m of 7 g/t Au from 277m to 283m, 10m of 3.04 g/t Au from 302m to 312m and 2m of 2.82 g/t Au from 325m to 327m
•Two additional drill holes planned in the next month to further test the gold mineralisation of this newly discovered gold trend at Gedabek
•To further outline the extent of this discovery, a geophysical programme is scheduled to commence in Q2 of 2014 - this programme will assist in the optimisation of drill hole targets over the 1,500m of potential extension to the east
Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri said, "Validation of this mineral discovery immediately north of the current open pit working at Gedabek supports the theory that Gedabek is part of a much larger mineralisation system. While the full extent of this discovery is unknown, an aggressive exploration programme in 2014 will determine how much additional resource will be available to extend the mine life at Gedabek.
"The apparent high grade nature of this significant new discovery would certainly enhance our ability to optimise the reprocessing of spent heap leach tailings through the AGL by blending. We look forward to continued success for the potential exploitation of this new find."
Further Information
Anglo Asian's 26,842m resource drilling programme at Gedabek concluded in Q1 2013 and, as a result, an upgraded Measured and Indicated JORC compliant resource of 44,644,658t at 0.783 g/t of Au for 1,123,767oz Au and a total JORC compliant resource of 51,591,901t at 0.754 g/t Au for 1,250,043oz Au, 0.155 % Cu for 80,036t Cu and 5.915 g/t Ag for 9,811,719oz Ag (at a cut-off grade of 0.3 g/t Au) was announced.
Core hole AIMCDD86, to the northwest of the Gedabek mine, was drilled to a depth of 650m earlier in 2013. In a zone between 250m and 350m there was evidence of intense alteration accompanied by high grade gold mineralisation. To test the continuity of the mineralisation exhibited at drill hole AIMCDDC86, an additional hole (AIMCDD106) was drilled 20m east of hole 86 to a depth of 349m in October 2013. There are two zones of significance in core hole 106. The upper zone of mineralisation has 5m of 95 g/t Ag (3.1 g/t opt Ag) at 234m to 238m and a lower zone that contains 41m at 7.6g/t of Au from 296m to 337m. Within this lower zone, 1m of 101 g/t Ag (3.3 g/t opt Ag) with 78.7 g/t Au (2.5 g/t opt Au) occurs at 313 metres.
This new area, 400m from the current pit, is informally called the Gadiz mineralisation, however should the deposit be extended, it will be likely be renamed Gedabek North. The newly completed core hole in this area (AIMCDD107) was drilled 20m to the south of AIMCDD86 to a target depth of approximately 445m.
Two other core holes (108 and 109) are planned now for drilling in January 2014 to the west of hole AIMCDD86 for an additional 900m. The Company had intended to drill these holes during 2013 but had an immediate need for core data in Pit 4 for the 2014 mine development. From experience, AIMC has found that drilling closer spaced holes at Gedabek is more effective for deposit delineation than wider spaced drilling due to the pod-like nature of the high mineralisation zones. However, the use of an inductive polarization ('IP') survey in 2014, that targets sulfide zones, will help to determine the extent of the gold trend beyond this drilling area and whether the gold is occurring in sulfides. The Company's core rig will return to this new discovery location in Q1 2014 to be augmented by the IP survey when the weather improves.
ANN.Az
