Anglo Asian's Azerbaijan first-half gold production up 33 pct

TBILISI, July 13 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's top gold producer, Anglo Asian Mining Plc (LSE: AAZ.L - news) , increased its output by 32.8 percent to 35,938 ounces in the first half of 2015 and targeted production of 70,000 to 75,000 ounces for the year.

The company increased its gold output by 16 percent to 60,285 ounces in 2014, hitting its target for the year.

The London-listed firm also said it increased production of copper at Azerbaijan's main mine, Gedabek, and the Gosha mine to 418 tonnes in the January to June period from 369 tonnes in the same period last year.

Silver output fell to 6,477 ounces from 21,924 ounces.

"We are delighted to report continuation of the exceptional gold, copper and silver production seen in Q1 2015 with record gold production for the half year of 35,938 ounces," Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri said in a statement on Monday.

"This exceeded our internal production estimate and ideally positions Anglo Asian for a strong remainder of 2015."

He said the company was making good progress on building a small scale flotation plant and the necessary modifications to enable it to process the tailings of the agitated leach plant.

The plant is expected to be commissioned in the third quarter of this year and add approximately 5,000 ounces of gold and 1,200 tonnes of copper this year.

Gold sales in the second quarter totalled 16,088 ounces at an average price of $1,193 per ounce. In the first quarter the company sold 17,206 ounces at an average price of $1,214.

Gold is produced at Gedabek and other Azeri mines under a production venture with Anglo Asian, in which the government owns 49 percent.

Anglo Asian began production at Gedabek, 350 km west of the capital Baku, in July 2009 and plans to extract 22 tonnes of gold from the mine.

Overall, Anglo Asian plans to develop seven mines in western Azerbaijan with estimated gold reserves of 430 tonnes. (Reporting by Margarita Antidze; editing by David Clarke)