Central Asia Metals (AIM:CAML) said its Kounrad copper operation and Sasa zinc-lead mine remain on track to meet full-year 2026 production guidance after a third quarter in which Sasa delivered sharply higher output and Kounrad held steady.
The AIM-listed miner, which operates the Kounrad in-situ dump-leach copper project in Kazakhstan and the Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia, produced 3,454 tonnes of copper at Kounrad in the third quarter, taking nine-month output to 9,758 tonnes, fractionally below the same period last year.
Sasa produced 4,968 tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate, up 18% on the third quarter of 2025, and 7,255 tonnes of lead-in-concentrate, up 21%, which the company attributed to higher head grades and increased tonnes mined and processed.
Average received prices strengthened further, with copper fetching $14,218 per tonne, 43% higher than a year earlier, and zinc averaging $3,841 per tonne, up 34%, while lead slipped 5% to $1,859 per tonne.
Both operations reported zero lost-time injuries in the quarter, with Sasa reaching 233 days and Kounrad 198 days free of such incidents by 30 September.
"Q3 2026 was a positive period for CAML, with good progress on all of the main elements of the Company's strategy," said chief executive Gavin Ferrar, adding that the production performance came "against a background of sustained high prices for copper and zinc."
The company's proposed all-share acquisition of Cygnus Metals, agreed in June for an implied equity value of A$232 million to bring the Chibougamau copper-gold project in Québec into the group, advanced through a series of conditions during the quarter.
Shareholders of both CAML and Cygnus voted in favour of the scheme, and the Toronto Stock Exchange gave conditional approval for the listing of CAML's existing and newly issued shares.
The sole outstanding condition precedent is regulatory approval in Kazakhstan, which CAML expects to receive on or before 12 October.
To accommodate that, the Australian court has adjourned the scheme's second court hearing to 14 October, pushing the indicative effective date to 15 October and implementation to 27 October.
On exploration, CAML's 80%-owned subsidiary CAML X reported assay results from maiden drilling at Yuzhnoe in Kazakhstan's Chingiz-Tarbagatay belt, with wide copper intersections including 311 metres at 0.22% copper over more than a kilometre of strike, prompting a follow-up 3,600-metre drilling programme to establish true widths and locate higher-grade zones.
The company also exercised its remaining £1.15 million of warrants in Aberdeen Minerals during the quarter, lifting its stake to 38.9% and funding a Phase 4 regional drilling programme of at least 2,600 metres at Aberdeen's base-metals project in northeast Scotland.
"We also made significant progress on the proposed acquisition of Cygnus Metals," Ferrar said, adding the company looks "forward to completing both the transaction and our planned TSX listing in due course."