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Aris Mining Completes Acquisition to Increase Ownership in Soto Norte Gold-Copper Project to 51%
VANCOUVER, BC, June 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Aris Mining Corporation (Aris Mining or the Company) (TSX: ARIS) (NYSE-A: ARMN) announces that, further to the Company's ne
About this update from Aris Mining Corp
[{"type":"text","content":" VANCOUVER, BC, June 28, 2024 /CNW/ - Aris Mining Corporation (Aris Mining or the Company) (TSX: ARIS) (NYSE-A: ARMN) announces that, further to the Company's news release of May 23, 2024, it has closed the acquisition of an additional 31% interest in the Soto Norte gold-copper project in Colombia (Soto Norte or PSN), increasing its total ownership in the joint venture to 51%. Soto Norte is one of the largest undeveloped underground gold projects in South America. As consideration for the additional 31% interest of PSN: Aris Mining has issued 15,750,000 shares to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi based investment company Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (Mubadala), which shares will be subject to a 12-month hold period. An additional 6,000,000 shares will be issued to Mubadala on receipt of an environmental license for PSN. Mubadala is retaining a 49% interest in PSN. Aris Mining will sole fund certain operating costs on behalf of the joint venture during the pre-licensing period. Non-operating and project construction costs will be funded on a pro-rata ownership basis. In March 2022, Aris Mining disclosed the results of mineral resource and reserve estimates and a Feasibility Study for the Soto Norte Gold Project in a NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report with an effective date of January 1, 2021 (the Feasibility Study). The Feasibility Study includes a 7,200 tonnes per day capacity processing plant with average annual production of over 450,000 gold ounces (oz) over an 11-year production period at average all in sustaining costs (AISC) of US$471/oz from a 5.0 million ounce mineral reserve1. In 2023, Aris Mining completed a technical and economic assessment of PSN that considered a scaled-down mining concept. To confirm and optimize our assessments and streamline permitting processes, we have decided to undertake Feasibility Study level work on a new, smaller scale development plan with optimizations including: (i) reducing the environmental footprint, (ii) building a smaller processing plant with a longer operating life, (iii) adopting a flexible mining method to target higher-grade material earlier in the mine life, (iv) installing a paste backfill plant to minimize surface tailings storage requirements and, (v) replacing the 6.9 km tunnel to connect the mine and the processing plant site with an aerial ropeway, ...