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Aura Minerals Declares Commercial Production at Almas Gold Mine
ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, Sept. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX: ORA, B3: AURA33 and OTCQX: ORAAF) (“Aura” or the “Company”) is pl
About this update from Aura Minerals Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":" ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, Sept. 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX: ORA, B3: AURA33 and OTCQX: ORAAF) (“Aura” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that commercial production has been achieved at its Almas gold mine (“Almas”) effective as of August 31, 2023. Almas mill is operating above 100% of the design capacity, processing 4,000 tonnes per day, with recoveries consistently above 90% and ranging up to 92%. Approximately 4,661 ounces of gold were produced in August, with gross revenues of approximately US$ 9 million recognized in the month. Almas achieved full capacity at the mill in only 5 months after commissioning of the project, significantly ahead of benchmarks as indicated in the chart below: Ramp-up curve (Average compared to other Companies) Notes: Start-up curve classification showing % of design capacity vs. time. McNulty C1*: Type 1 is an operation that achieves the designed for production throughput easily within 12 months of commissioning. Comparison with other relevant mines on the global stage and Plant Throughput. Source: McNulty, T. P. (2004). Minimization of delays in plant startups. In Plant Operator’s Forum 2004, Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (pp. 113-120). McNulty, T. (2014). Plant Ramp-Up Profiles an Update with Emphasis on Process Development. Proceedings of the 2014 Conference of Metallurgists, Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum. Voigt, P., Walker, D., Kloiber-Deane, O., & Tsvetkov, A. (2018). Ramp-up and long-term performance of the Albion Process™ plant at GeoProMining Gold Armenia. In Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference (pp. 339-350). Consistent with the Aura’s strategy to start small and optimize upfront capital expenditures, the Company is now focused on investing in increasing the mill’s capacity from 1.3 million tons per year to 1.5 million tons per year. During the remainder of 2023, Aura is expected to invest about US$3.5 million for such production capacity at Almas. The capacity increases are expected to be fully implemented at the beginning of 2024 and contribute to an increased annual gold production of approximately 15% compared to Almas’ Feasibility Study. Rodrigo Barbosa, Aura’s President, and CEO commented, “We are very proud to declare commercial production at Almas. We have not only built it on budg...