Anglo Asian Mining Plc (LSE:AAZ, OTC:AGXKF, FRA:A4A) says 2025 marked a pivotal year as the company expanded from a single-mine operator into a multi-asset copper and gold producer.
Vice president Stephen Westhead discusses new production from the Gilar and Demirli mines, the return to profitability and the reinstatement of shareholder dividends.
The interview also outlines the group’s longer-term copper growth strategy centred on the Xarxar and Garadag development projects in Azerbaijan.
Proactive: Joining me now is Stephen Westhead, vice president of Anglo Asian Mining. Stephen, great to see you.
Stephen Westhead: Fine, thank you Steve. Everything’s going really well. It’s a pleasure to see you again and I look forward to this interview.
Proactive: You’ve announced your full-year results. Give us a summary of the key highlights from 2025.
Stephen Westhead: 2025 was a transformational year for Anglo Asian Mining, marking the transition from being a single-mine producer into a multi-asset mining company. We brought two new mines into production: the Gilar underground copper-gold mine in Gedabek and the Demirli copper project. Both now make a meaningful contribution to future copper and gold production.
Proactive: Tell me more about those projects and how the company achieved that in one year.
Stephen Westhead: Gilar is an underground operation and we are pioneers in Azerbaijan in underground mine development. The deposit has strong grades of around 1.5% copper and 1.8 grams per tonne gold. We also upgraded processing facilities, including the flotation plant and filter presses.
Demirli was an existing mine with a six-million-tonne-per-annum flotation plant. We restarted infrastructure, reconnected power and water, refurbished the plant and brought operations back online. Both mining operations are now fully in production.
Proactive: You also returned to profitability, became net cash positive and reinstated a dividend.
Stephen Westhead: Yes. We produced nearly 8,000 tonnes of copper and more than 25,000 ounces of gold in 2025. That strengthened our financial position and delivered a profit before tax of nearly $26 million. On the back of that, we reinstated the dividend at four US cents per share.
The business is now in a much stronger position operationally, financially and strategically.
Proactive: How should investors think about Anglo Asian Mining going forward as a multi-asset company?
Stephen Westhead: Our current producing assets include Gedabek, Gilar and Demirli. Future growth projects are the Xarxar and Garadag copper projects located north of Gedabek.
Xarxar hosts around 120,000 tonnes of copper metal and Garadag contains approximately 900,000 tonnes. Together, they contain over one million tonnes of copper metal. We are finalizing consultant appointments for feasibility studies.
We are targeting feasibility study completion in the second half of 2027, with Xarxar potentially starting production in 2028 and Garadag in 2030.
As these projects develop, copper will become the company’s largest revenue contributor. However, we still want the business to be underpinned by precious metals, so exploration for gold assets will continue.
Proactive: It sounds like the next 12 to 24 months will be busy.
Stephen Westhead: 2025 gave us confidence in our ability to deliver on our strategy. We have achieved the targets we discussed historically and that is important for shareholders and potential investors.
We also operate within Azerbaijan under a robust production sharing agreement that provides security of tenure and stable business conditions. The framework is strong and supports future growth.
Proactive: Congratulations on a strong 2025 and thanks for the update.