Central Asia Metals PLC reports 18% Sasa zinc rise, keeps 2026 targets

Central Asia Metals PLC LONCAML reported on Wednesday that zinc in concentrate at its Sasa mine in North Macedonia rose 18 per cent to 4,968 tonnes in the third quarter of 2026. Production through Sept. 30 reached 14,062 tonnes, leaving 3,938 tonnes to reach the low end of unchanged 2026 guidance.

Lead in concentrate rose 21 per cent to 7,255 tonnes from 5,978 tonnes in the third quarter of 2025. At Kounrad in Kazakhstan, copper production slipped to 3,454 tonnes from 3,615 tonnes in the third quarter of 2025.

CAML kept its full-year targets at 18,000 to 20,000 tonnes of zinc and 26,000 to 28,000 tonnes of lead in concentrate. Its copper target remains 12,000 to 13,000 tonnes, with the first nine months yielding 9,758 tonnes.

The nine-month totals leave Sasa needing 5,432 tonnes of lead and Kounrad 2,242 tonnes of copper in the final quarter to reach the bottom of their ranges. Both amounts are below their third-quarter production.

Sasa's zinc head grade rose to 2.87 per cent in the third quarter from 2.46 per cent in the third quarter of 2025. Lead grade climbed to 3.71 per cent from 3.20 per cent. Ore mined increased 3.0 per cent, while ore milled rose 3.4 per cent, CAML said.

The mine is an underground operation that sells separate zinc and lead concentrates to smelters. Its output figures count metal contained in those concentrates before the smelters' payability adjustments. CAML reported 4,173 tonnes of payable zinc and 6,893 tonnes of payable lead for the quarter.

Quarterly zinc sales of 3,796 tonnes were below payable output because of shipment timing, according to the release. Lead sales were 6,806 tonnes, close to payable production. Over the first nine months of 2026, zinc payable sales were 11,528 tonnes against 11,829 tonnes of payable output.

CAML reported that its average received copper price rose 43 per cent from the third quarter of 2025 to US$14,218 a tonne in the third quarter of 2026. In the third quarter of 2026, zinc's average received price rose 34 per cent to US$3,841 a tonne. Lead's average received price fell five per cent to US$1,859 a tonne.

“Kounrad’s solid production performance followed a strong H1 2026, and kept the operation firmly on track to meet its full-year guidance,” chief executive Gavin Ferrar said in the release.

Neither Kounrad nor Sasa recorded a lost-time injury in the third quarter. By Sept. 30, 2026, Sasa had gone 233 days without one and Kounrad 198 days, the company said.

CAML also plans another 3,600 metres of drilling at its Yuzhnoe copper prospect in Kazakhstan. The follow-up program is intended to establish true widths after an initial campaign found mineralisation over more than one kilometre of strike.

CAML expects to close its proposed acquisition of the company behind Québec's Chibougamau copper-gold project in late October 2026.