London-listed Central Asia Metals has reported “excellent” production results at its Kounrad dump-leach, solvent extraction-electrowinning copper operation, in Kazakhstan, for the fourth quarter of 2025, resulting in full-year output only fractionally below that of 2024 despite the effect that adverse weather had on production in the early months of 2025.

Kounrad's fourth-quarter production was 3 478 t, bringing the total for the year to 13 311 t.

Copper sales during the quarter were 3 720 t, resulting in total 2025 sales of 13 122 t.

The company notes that production for the fourth quarter was slightly above the planned budget, with the dump-leach parameters operating according to expected levels.

“This is particularly pleasing given the record high copper prices achieved during the quarter.

“As we have always made clear, the nature of dump-leaching means that Kounrad's output will naturally reduce gradually over time, which is reflected in our 2026 production guidance. Our focus remains on keeping the operation as efficient as possible to maximise Kounrad's industry-leading profit margins,” says CEO Gavin Ferrar.

Additionally, Central Asia Metal reports that its Sasa zinc/lead mine, in North Macedonia, recorded increases in tonnes mined and milled during the fourth quarter, with both parameters exceeding the 820 000 t/y level on an annualised basis.

Head grades also showed some improvement over those recorded in the third quarter of 2025, particularly for zinc.

The resulting production brought zinc-in-concentrate output for the full year to 17 881 t, well within the range of 17 000 t to 19 000 t set in the July guidance revision, and lead-in-concentrate production to 25 156 t, within the guided range of 25 000 t to 27 000 t.

Additionally, Central Asia Metals says the dry stack tailings (DST) plant continued to operate consistently in the fourth quarter, and by the end of December had produced over 260 000 t of dry tailings.

Since the DST plant became operational at the end of the first quarter of 2025, the company says tailings stored as dry tailings or underground as paste backfill represent about 75% of the total generated.

The company says this exceeds its 2026 target of 70% of Sasa's tailings to be stored using these two more environmentally responsible methods.

Following the comprehensive business review of Sasa in the second half of 2025, by the end of December, Central Asia Metals says employees representing about 9% of the total workforce had agreed to leave the business through a combination of voluntary mutual agreements and retirements, plus the expiry of temporary contracts.

The company adds that efforts are also being made to improve near-term mine planning, as in addition to becoming typically narrower as mining has progressed, the orebody is also proving more variable.

These include increasing the intensity of sampling of the working faces and additional external training of key personnel involved in orebody modelling.

In addition, the company notes that work is also under way to improve management's knowledge of the orebody at depth, with a view to long-term mine planning.

Central Asia Metals says Sasa's metal-in-concentrate production is subject to payability factors of about 84% for zinc and 95% for lead when delivered to smelters.

Consequently, the 2025 fourth-quarter payable production was 4 192 t of zinc-in-concentrate and 6 237 t of lead-in-concentrate, bringing the payable totals for 2025 to 15 032 t and 23 898 t, respectively.

The company notes that payable metal-in-concentrate sales for the fourth quarter were 4 247 t of zinc and 6 138 t of lead, broadly in line with payable production, resulting in totals for 2025 of 14 961 t and 23 898 t, respectively.

During the fourth quarter, Central Asia Metals says, Sasa sold 94 655 oz of payable silver to OR Royalties (formerly Osisko Gold Royalties), in accordance with its streaming agreement, bringing the total for 2025 to 380 433 oz.

Ferrar expresses that Sasa made further progress in terms of ore tonnage during the fourth quarter, and head grades also showed encouraging signs, particularly for zinc.

“This has given us sufficient confidence to announce an increase in our production guidance for 2026. I am also pleased to report that Sasa achieved a full year without any lost-time injuries.

"We continue to focus on increasing our understanding of the Sasa orebody, with the aim of maintaining and building on this improvement in mining performance.

“Meanwhile, following the full business review of Sasa completed in the second half of 2025, we have also begun to implement a series of measures aimed at improving operational efficiency.

"This focus on our core operations has not lessened our determination to grow the business, and our dedicated exploration and project-appraisal teams continue their work in pursuit of this goal,” says Ferrar.

GUIDANCE

Central Asia Metals says Kounrad is expected to produce between 12 000 t and 13 000 t of copper this year, slightly less than the total produced in 2025, owing to the characteristics of the resource blocks scheduled to be leached.

Sasa's guidance for 2026 is between 800 000 t and 820 000 t of ore mined and processed, and metal-in-concentrate production of between 18 000 t and 20 000 t of zinc and between 26 000 t and 28 000 t of lead.

The company says this represents an increase compared with 2025 production, as the measures introduced in the second half of 2025 as part of the comprehensive business review begin to take effect.

Central Asia Metals says group capital expenditure (capex) this year is expected to be in the range of $14.5-million to $17.5-million, comprising about $1.5-million to $2.5-million at Kounrad and $13-million to $15-million at Sasa.

Capex at Sasa includes ongoing extension of the dry-stack landform.

In addition, the company says the group expects to spend between $3-million and $3.5-million on drilling and other exploration activity in 2026.

CORPORATE ACTIVITIES

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Central Asia Metals says it put into place hedging arrangements comprising forward sales for about 50% of Sasa's expected payable zinc this year, at an average price of $3 011.5/t; and forward purchases of euro covering about 50% of Sasa's expected 2026 on-site cash operating costs, at an average exchange rate of $1.185 to the euro.

At December 31, 2025, the company held cash of $80.1-million and had $900 000 drawn under an overdraft facility, for net cash of $79.2-million.