Central Asia Metals makes decent start to year as it updates mineral resource

Central Asia Metals updated the market on operations at the Kounrad dump leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning copper recovery plant in Kazakhstan and the Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia for the first quarter on Wednesday, reporting that production was on track to meet full-year guidance for copper, zinc and lead.

The AIM-traded firm said that at Kounrad, 2,952 tonnes of copper was produced in the period, while at Sasa, 5,639 tonnes of zinc in concentrate and 7,212 tonnes of lead in concentrate was reported.

That meant copper production had slipped from 3,070 tonnes in the first quarter of 2018, while zinc production was up from 5,518 tonnes and lead production had improved from 7,020 tonnes.

The company said an updated mineral resource estimate had been prepared for Sasa by SRK Consulting UK, in accordance with JORC' guidelines, which showed total combined indicated and inferred mineral resources of 22.5 million tonnes with a zinc grade of 2.87% and a lead grade of 4.23%, containing 646,000 tonnes of zinc and 953,000 tonnes of lead.

It explained that, despite 18 months of mining depletion since the previous mineral resource estimate on 1 July 2017, it had seen a “minimal reduction” in contained metal of around 6,000 tonnes of zinc and 7,000 tonnes of lead.

That was put down to higher resource grades, as informed by recent drilling programmes.

The indicated mineral resource at the Golema Reka deposit totalled 1.3 million tonnes, at a zinc grade of 1.61% and a lead grade of 3.80%, which had been converted from inferred mineral resources through the successful 2018 infill drilling programme.

Central Asia Metals said that meant it had a resource base to support a long mine life at Sasa, of at least 19 years.

“These production results reflect a good start to the year at Kounrad and Sasa, both of which are on track to achieve 2019 production targets,” said Central Asia Metals chief executive officer Nigel Robinson.

“Base metals production guidance for 2019 is 12,500 to 13,500 tonnes of copper cathode, plus 22,000 to 24,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate and 28,000 to 30,000 tonnes of lead in concentrate.

“The updated mineral resource estimate underscores our belief that in Sasa we have a long-life asset with a high-quality resource base.”

Robinson said that, since the 2017 mineral resource estimate, the company had demonstrated higher overall zinc and lead grades at its current mining area of Svinja Reka.

At Golema Reka, he noted that the firm’s resource was previously all within the inferred category, and it now had 1.3 million tonnes within the higher confidence indicated category out of a total Golema Reka combined indicated and inferred mineral resource of 7.6 million tonnes.

“In 2019, we will continue to drill at Svinja Reka, with the primary objective being to increase our understanding of the mineralisation at depth.

“We will also drill some exploratory holes into the Kozja Reka area that lies between Svinja Reka and Golema Reka, which was mined between 1966 and 1989.”