Anglo Asian chairman addresses shareholders by letter ahead of virtual AGM

Reza Vaziri, the chairman of Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) addressed shareholders by letter on the morning of 29 June, ahead of the company’s annual meeting due to be held later in the day. Because of restrictions related to coronavirus, shareholders were only invited to attend on a virtual basis. “2020 was a year without precedent in the history of the company,” said Vaziri. “It commenced with the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, which gradually restricted our ability to operate. In September, the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia broke out, which lasted until the ceasefire in November.” He added: “COVID-19 restrictions in Azerbaijan have now mostly all been lifted so that daily life has more or less returned to normal. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict with Armenia were extremely demanding for all our employees and not only for those who fought in the conflict. Despite the numerous challenges, the company delivered an excellent financial performance helped by higher metal prices. More importantly for the company's future, we continued our successful exploration programme culminating in the discovery of Zafar, a major new deposit at Gedabek. Exploration at several other sites at Gedabek is ongoing. The year's operational performance was an outstanding achievement of which all employees are justifiably proud.” He also highlighted Anglo Asian’s financial performance in 2020. The company delivered revenues of US$102mln and profits before taxation of US$36mln. It also became debt-free during 2020 and ended the year with a cash balance of US$39mln.  “The company is one of the few Aim-listed mining companies which pay a dividend and for 2020 will pay a total dividend of US$0.095 cents a share, which includes a special dividend of US$0.015 cents per share,” Vaziri added. “The company's main priority is to now increase production by developing new mines as the Gedabek open pit nears the end of its life. I was therefore delighted at the recent discovery of the Zafar deposit, which is situated very close to our processing facilities. Zafar will be a major new underground copper and zinc mine at Gedabek and work is now rapidly ramping up on the large development project to design and construct the mine.” Separately, the company also published responses to questions from shareholders submitted in advance of the AGM.