Anglo Asian Mining (LSE:AAZ), the AIM listed gold producer in Azerbaijan, is pleased to announce that it has appointed Mr Sean C. Muller as a Director of Geology with immediate effect. Mr Muller’s non-Board role will be primarily focused on further advancing the exploration and development of Anglo Asian’s flagship Gedabek gold, copper, silver mine in western Azerbaijan, which is targeted to produce circa 60,000 ounces of gold for FY 2013.
In tandem with this, Mr Muller will also oversee development of Anglo Asian’s second gold project, Gosha, located 50 km away from Gedabek, which is currently being developed as a 15,000-20,000 ounces of gold per annum underground mine and is due to commence full production in 2014.
Mr Muller has over 40 years of experience as a geologist in the mining and exploration arena, having discovered and developed many large-scale gold and copper deposits across the Americas, Africa, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and Australia. Most recently he was the Exploration and Development Manager for Petaquilla Minerals LLC (TSX:PTQ), managing the development of the million ounce Molejon Gold Mine in Panama. He also acted as the Qualified Person from 2005 through 2007 for the discovery and preliminary development of the world class Cobre gold-copper deposit in Panama, which is currently in the construction phase, overseen by First Quantum (LSE: FQM). With over 8 million gold ounces of proven and probable reserves and 12 million tonnes of copper reserves, the Cobre deposit is considered to be the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in the world.
Mr Muller has significant experience in metallurgy, surface and underground mine planning, economic analysis, mine hydrology and environmental permitting/compliance. He has a Bachelors and M.S. in Geology and is working toward a PhD in Mining Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, with a thesis involving the design of an underground mill and zero tailings discharge to the surface. He has developed several technologies for stabilisation of mine waste using select mine wasterock. In addition he is a safety trainer for underground and surface mining operations under the US Mine Health and Safety Administration and is licensed as a Professional Geologist in seven US states and in Ontario, Canada.
Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri said, “We are delighted to welcome Sean to the Anglo Asian team. He brings a wealth of technical experience having discovered and developed many large scale gold-copper deposits worldwide, and we believe he will play a significant role in Anglo Asian’s development as we look to ramp up our production profile in Azerbaijan to become an 80,000-90,000 ounce per year gold producer by the end of 2014.”