The company made a profit of $5 million in the six months to June 30, compared to a $2.7 million loss in the first half of 2017. 

Anglo Asian has come out of a building phase, adding on to its Gedabek project. 

Production in the first half of 2018 was 37,349 ounces gold equivalent, including silver and copper. This was a 22% increase year-on-year, but gold production fell 8.8% compared to the second half of 2017. 

In an interview with Mining Journal this month, Anglo Asian CFO Bill Morgan said the company's debt servicing and production expansion work had allowed them to hand cash back to shareholders. 

"We've now got some fairly mature assets in Azerbaijan ... we've got the openpit, underground, and we've got two plants," he said. 

"At the moment we're getting good cash generation from those assets, and this enables us to pay a dividend." 

The company said it would hand up to $13.5 million back to shareholders, and would aim to pass on 25% of free cash flow to shareholders.  

A big beneficiary of the policy will be CEO Reza Vaziri, whose 28.7% of the company will see him handed just under $1 million.