Aura Minerals has brought its circa-50,000 ounces-a-year Almas gold mine in Brazil on line and expects to achieve commercial production in July.
The TSX-listed company says its first greenfield project took 16 months and US$78 million build, “with no material deviation from the project budget, despite challenges related to procurement, the pandemic and inflationary pressures”.
Almas, an openpit mine in Tocantins, has a projected mine life of 17 years and is expected to produce 25,000-to-30,000oz by the end of 2023.
“Our strategy of focusing on simple and scalable projects that are easy to build and easy to operate under the highest ESG standards, which we call Aura 360, is paying off,” CEO Rodrigo Barbosa said.
“This efficient model has already resulted in significant benefits to both Aura and the local communities. We invested approximately 50,000 hours on training and have 57% of direct labour hired from the local communities which we expect to further increase during the ramp-up of the operation and next year.
“We look forward to providing additional updates as we achieve commercial production and begin sales at Almas, and completing the ongoing Borborema feasibility study with construction anticipated to commence by the end of this semester.”
TSX-listed Almas’ share price has surged nearly 28% this year to C$10.84, capitalising the company at about C$774 million.
