Central Asia Metals Plc

Central Asia Metals’ (CAML) purpose is to produce the base metals essential for modern living, in a safe and sustainable manner for all its stakeholders. The Company was admitted to London’s AIM market in 2010, and began producing copper from its wholly-owned Kounrad in-situ dump-leaching project two years later. Since then, Kounrad has produced almost 160,000 tonnes of copper cathode at cash costs among the lowest in the industry, and has a productive life extending to at least 2034. In November 2017, CAML acquired the Sasa mine in North Macedonia, in a transaction involving both debt and new equity. Sasa is an underground operation producing zinc and lead, plus silver as a by-product. CAML is well advanced with a capital investment programme at Sasa designed to change the mining method and to move the operation’s tailings storage to a system that minimises environmental impact. These initiatives have also extended the operation’s life to at least 2039. Mining methods are moving to a combination of cut-and-fill and long-hole stoping, both involving the use of cemented paste fill made with the tailings from Sasa’s processing plant. The cemented fill is also being used to fill existing voids from previous mining, thus stabilising the ground for future operations. The new mining method is more flexible, allowing the extraction of narrower portions of mineralisation than previously possible, and also requires less mineralised material to be left unmined in the form of pillars. These advantages optimise the exploitation of the orebody. The tailings not utilised in the backfilling are being transitioned to the dry-stack method for long-term storage, meaning that Sasa will not require an additional conventional tailings dam for the rest of its planned life. Finally, a new Central Decline is nearing completion, which will reduce haulage distances and personnel travelling times, and improve ventilation. Sustainability is integral to all the Group’s operations. For example, in 2024 the company announced conformance with the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management, demonstrating its commitment to tailings management in line with industry best practice. The Group is also committed to a 50% reduction in its Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, versus a 2020 base, with the commissioning of a solar-power plant at Kounrad in late 2023 forming part of this initiative. The Group remains committed to long-term growth. In 2023, CAML established an exploration subsidiary, CAML Exploration, with a team of experienced early-stage geologists focused on base metals in Kazakhstan. In June 2024, CAML completed a £3 million initial investment into Aberdeen Minerals, a private company exploring for copper and nickel in northeast Scotland. Meanwhile, the highest priority remains searching for a producing or near-term development asset to establish a project pipeline. Since its IPO in 2010, CAML has returned approximately $360 million to its shareholders in dividends, compared with a total of $214 million raised in equity from the market, and has repaid all the debt associated with the Sasa acquisition.