About us
Auriant Mining AB is a Swedish junior mining company, focused on gold exploration and production in Russia.

The company has two producing mines, Tardan in the Republic of Tyva, and Staroverinskaya in the Zabaikalsky region. In the Republic of Tyva, the company also owns a second advanced exploration property - Kara-Beldyr, which is in the process of obtaining the relevant mining and processing permits. Furthermore, in the Republic of Khakassia, the company owns the Uzhunzhul license which is an early stage exploration property.

Auriant is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and is listed on the Swedish Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market stock exchange. There are 98,768,270 ordinary shares in issue, held by 3,138 shareholders in the Company as of December 30, 2022. As of December 30, 2022 the Company had a market capitalization of approximately MSEK 126.4 (equivalent to US$ 12.1 million).

In 2022 Auriant employed an average of 513 employees, including contractors. In 2022, 780 kg (25,082 oz) of gold was produced.

Auriant is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and is listed on the Swedish Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market stock exchange.

The number of shareholders was approximately 3,138 and the company had 98,768,270 ordinary shares in issue as of December 30, 2022 and a market capitalization was approximately MSEK 126.4m (equivalent to US$ 12.1 m).

History

2004

Auriant Mining was created in 2004 with the acquisition of the Tardan property in the Republic of Tyva by a group of entrepreneurs and Swedish investors.

2005

In order to raise financing to develop the project the Company was listed, as Central Asia Gold (CAG), on the NGM Nordic Growth Market on 29 March 2005.  

In 2005 the first gold was poured at Tardan (from the Kopto deposit).  

2006

In 2006, the Company acquired the Kopylovskoye, Artel Lena, Artel Tyva, Uzhunzhul and Kara-Beldyr subsoil use licenses and started gold production at Tardan.

2008

In 2008, in order to develop the large greenfield Kara-Beldyr gold deposit in the Republic of Tyva, CAG entered into a joint venture agreement with Centerra Gold, a major Canadian gold producer.  Under the terms of the agreement, Centerra Gold would earn-in by continuing exploration activities.  Through investment in exploration at Kara-Bedir, Centerra Gold gradually increased its stake to 70%, which the Company then bought out in 2014 in exchange for future net smelter royalty payments on any mineral production from the Kara-Beldyr deposit.  

2009

In the same year 2008, a strategic review of the Company’s development led to a merger with NMC (a company owning a number of Russian gold mines and licenses), completed in March 2009.  As part of the merger, the Kopylovskoye property was spun off to existing shareholders as a separate company Kopylovskoye AB, and CAG acquired several Russian gold mining subsidiaries.  One of the owners of NMC, a company associated with the American-born entrepreneur Preston Haskell, who had been active as a businessman in Russia since the early 1990-ies, became the owner of Central Asia Gold.

2010

On 19 July 2010 the Company changed its listing to the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market stock exchange in Sweden, as a step towards ultimately seeking a listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm main market.

2011

In 2010 and 2011, rationalization of the Company’s gold assets resulted in disengagement from the alluvial mining and shifting the focus to the hard rock gold mining.  As a result, a number of alluvial licenses in the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Tyva were sold off.  The Company retained several alluvial deposits in Zabaikalsky region as they are included in the Staroverinskaya subsoil use license.  Alluvial production is outsourced to contractors, with the Company’s subsidiary receiving a royalty on gold production.

2012

In 2012, the Company’s management was reorganized and a new strategy adopted.  In view of the Company’s goal of becoming an efficient, medium-sized gold producer the new strategy focuses on the three main areas:
1) In the short term, reducing costs and increasing production at the existing mines to full capacity.
2) In the medium term, continuing exploration at the existing assets to expand the resource base, extend mine lives, and bring new mines into production.
3) In the medium to long term, positioning Auriant as a consolidation vehicle for Russian gold assets.

In connection with the new strategy, the Company’s name was changed to Auriant Mining AB, reflecting the Latin name of gold, “aurum”, and its Au sign in the periodic table of chemical elements.

2013

In August 2012 the Tardan heap leaching plant was commissioned, resulting in the 78% increase of gold production in 2013 compared to the previous year.

2017

In 2017, after five years of gold production via both gravitational and heap leach recovery methods, a decision was made to remodel the Tardan plant to a single Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) process flow route, in order to achieve a 30% increase in Au recovery (which was to exceed 90%) as well as to make the gold extraction process more environmentally friendly.  In order to finance the CIL plant construction, Auriant Mining carried out a rights issue in Q3 2017, increasing the Company’s capital by 142.4 MSEK (approximately US$ 18 million) by means of a debt set-off and cash contribution for newly issued shares.  The Company raised cash proceeds of approximately 67.9 MSEK before transaction costs.

2019

In April 2019, the resources of the Kara-Beldyr deposit were approved by the State Reserve Committee (GKZ).  The GKZ-approved Kara-Beldyr C1 and C2 resources amount to 842,000 ozs of gold (26.2 tonnes) with an average grade of 3.38 g/t and 2,044m ozs of silver, (63.6 tonnes) with an average grade of 8.2 g/t.

In Q3 2019, the Tardan CIL plant construction was completed and the new plant quickly reached its projected throughput and recovery rate.

2020

In 2020, total hard rock (at Tardan CIL) and alluvial (at Staroverinskaya) gold production amounted to 965 kg (31,014 oz), and the Company announced a 900-930 kg Au production forecast for 2021.

Our values
1
People
Respect

We are committed to providing a positive working environment free of discrimination and harassment in all of our activities. We act and treat each other with dignity and respect. We believe that employees who are treated with respect have a higher level of professional performance. All of our employees are given equal opportunities for career development. We reward and encourage teamwork, creativity and innovation.

Safety

People are our most important asset. Our mines are built and operated by our employees and it is our highest priority to create and maintain a safe and healthy working environment for them. We are constantly searching for new and innovative methods to ensure the safety of our employees. We can proudly say that the level of accidents and injuries is very low in the company compared to the rest of the sector.

Environment and the Community
Responsible mining

Environmental responsibility is a central issue in a company with operations involving environmental risks. The majority of the Company’s activities are carried out in areas which are sensitive to the impact of mining operations. Auriant understands that there are people living close to our operations and, therefore, seeks to minimize the negative impact of our operations on the environment by focusing on adopting innovative technologies, continuously optimizing resource utilization and decreasing waste.

Social responsibility

We are actively engaged in the local communities in the areas in which we operate by, among other things, by supporting and contributing to education and infrastructure and by prioritizing the local population when employing staff.

Integrity and Corporate Governance
Integrity and Corporate Governance

Auriant’s success is dependent on trust and support from all stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, suppliers, contractors, Government, and local communities, which is why we are committed to the highest standards of integrity and sustainability. We have zero tolerance for corruption and aim to have the maximum level of transparency in our dealing with Government authorities, defending our interests in court when necessary.
We genuinely believe that good corporate governance adds shareholder value and, therefore, the majority of our Board is composed of non-executive, independent directors with extensive experience in mining and in running public companies. Going forward, we intend to further strengthen our corporate governance in order to deliver maximum shareholder value.

Organizational structure

The table below shows the group structure of AUR AB as of December 31, 2022.

Company

Auriant Mining AB

Location

Stockholm, Sweden

Operations

Parent Company

Ownership

See the Auriant Share section

Subsidiaries
Company

LLC Tardan Gold

Location

Kyzyl, Republic of Tyva, Russia

Operations

License holder and operator of hard rock gold production and exploration at the Tardan and Greater Tardan license areas.

Ownership

100% owned by AUR AB

Company

LLC GRE 324

Location

Chita, Zabaikalsky region, Russia

Operations

License holder, alluvial gold producer at the Staroverinskaya license area.

Ownership

60% owned by AUR AB
40% owned by LLC Tardan Gold

Company

LLC Rudtechnology

Location

Kalga, Kalganskiy district, Zabaikalsky region, Russia

Operations

Owner of the equipment previously used at the Solcocon heap leaching plant (now out of operation).

Ownership

51% owned by AUR AB
49% owned by LLC Tardan Gold

Company

LLC Uzhunzhul

Location

Abakan, Republic of Khakassia, Russia

Operations

License holder, the Uzhunzhul license area.

Ownership

1% owned by AUR AB
99% owned by LLC Tardan Gold

Company

LLC Auriant Management

Location

Moscow, Russia

Operations

Consultancy services to the Russian subsidiaries.

Ownership

50% owned by AUR AB
50% owned by LLC Tardan Gold

Company

Awilia Enterprises Limited

Location

Limassol, Cyprus

Operations

Owner of the operating company, LLC Kara-Beldyr.

Ownership

70% owned by Auriant Cyprus Limited
30% owned by AUR AB

Company

Auriant Cyprus Limited

Location

Limassol, Cyprus

Operations

Co-owner of Awilia Enterprises Limited (holds 70% in Awilia Enterprises Limited)

Ownership

100% owned by AUR AB

Company

LLC Kara-Beldyr

Location

Kyzyl, Republic of Tyva, Russia

Operations

License holder, the Kara-Beldyr license area.

Ownership

100% owned by Awilia Enterprises Limited