AIMC applied for government permission to raise its existing tailings dam which is almost full. A further 7-meter (m) raise will be carried out, taking it to its final design height. The raise will be carried out in two raises, with the first raise of 2.5 m completed approximately three months after permission is obtained.

Raising the dam will increase the capacity of the tailings storage facility (TSF) and allow production to resume. The company was forced to suspend flotation and agitation leaching in August 2023, when the TSF reached its limit. It also faced backlash from the community, which voiced opposition due to environmental concerns. In November, AIMC produced an action plan that addressed those issues.

Once the operation restarts, the flotation plant will initially process ore mined from the Gedabek open-pit mine, until higher grade ore becomes available from the new Gilar underground mine.

On June 11, 2024, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources provided a positive environmental report confirming the dam raise can proceed. “We are delighted to announce that the Government of Azerbaijan has approved all technical and environmental aspects for the wall raise of the tailings dam,” said Reza Vaziri, CEO of Anglo Asian Mining. “We are not expecting the final administrative formalities required before the permission is issued to take very long.”

In related news, Anglo Asian Mining reported that AIMC has entered into a prepayment agreement totaling $5 million with respect to its sales of copper concentrate to Trafigura Pte. Ltd. Under the terms of the agreement, the AIMC will receive $3 million immediately and a further $2 million upon resumption of flotation processing. The advance payments will be settled by the delivery of copper concentrate to Trafigura under the existing contract. The agreement has also granted Trafigura the exclusive right to purchase 50% of the first year of future production from the Demirli mine.

The company said it continues to discuss utilization of its vendor financing facility with Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. The company is also discussing further bank financing with local banks. However, the agreement with Trafigura provides additional flexibility to the company to finance its operations during the next few months while operations are restarted.