Miner Anglo Asian Mining has mined the first ore from Gilar, a new underground deposit at its Gedabek site in Azerbaijan, marking a milestone in the company's transition towards becoming a mid-tier copper producer.

The Aim-listed gold, copper, and silver miner reported that Gilar hosts an estimated 6.1-million-tonne resource, with average grades of 0.88% copper and 1.3 g/t gold, containing nearly 54 000 t of copper and about 255 000 oz of gold. The resource estimate was confirmed in December 2023.

Mining at Gilar commenced earlier this month, with an initial 1 267 t of ore extracted. The ore graded an average of 0.65% copper, with a maximum of 1.63% copper, and 1.36 g/t gold, with a maximum of 3.27 g/t gold. The mined ore will be stockpiled as mine development continues, with processing expected to start once infrastructure is fully in place.

The company plans to ramp up production over the coming months, targeting a monthly throughput of between 50 000 and 60 000 tonnes of ore.

"We are delighted to announce the first ore mined from Gilar, marking a key milestone in our development of this exciting underground deposit. After years of exploration and development works, I wish to thank all the team for their hard work in enabling this achievement," CEO Reza Vaziri said.

"With over 54 000 tonnes of copper and 255 000 ounces of gold confirmed, Gilar is set to play a crucial role in our strategy to transition to a mid-tier, primarily copper-focused, producer."

Located about 7 km from Anglo Asian’s processing facilities, Gilar was developed after promising drilling results in late 2022. The project features two underground tunnels, including a 1 462-m-long main exploration tunnel that will serve as a production route. A parallel ventilation tunnel is also complete, and further development work, including a spiral ramp for multi-level ore access, is underway.

The deposit's lower "Zone 4" hosts 2.57-million tonnes of mineralisation with average grades of 1.47% copper and 1.78 g/t gold.