Aura Minerals
Operations
We are a mining company focused on the development and operation of gold, copper and base metals projects in the Americas.
OUR PROJECTS AND OPERATIONS
Operação
Aranzazu
Zacatecas, México
Aranzazu is located at the heart of the mining district of Concepción del Oro, a historic mining region that have been mined over the last 500 years. Aranzazu is one of the most important mineral deposits of the Zacatecas state, in Mexico, and currently has a 5 year LOM.
Projetos de crescimento
Matupá
MT, Brazil
Matupá project is an open pit mine project with ore processing through the CIL system, 100% owned by Aura Minerals, and located near the cities of Matupá and Guarantã do Norte, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The property is made up of 9 minerals rights located at the Provincia de Ouro Alta Floresta, including
Projetos de exploração
Tolda Fría
Caldas, Colômbia
Wholly owned by Aura Minerals, it was acquired through the 2018 Rio Novo fusion. The project, currently under repairs and maintenance, is located approximately 10 km southeast from the city Manizales, in the Caldas department, Colombia.
Cuidado e manutenção
São Francisco
MT, Brazil
Wholly owned by Aura, in an open pit gold mine with heap leach, located near Aura’s EPP Complex, in the southwest region of Mato Grosso state, Brazil, approximately 560 km west from Cuiabá, state’s capital.
Projetos de crescimento
Borborema
RN, Brazil
The Borborema Project is located in the Seridó region, in Rio Grande do Norte state, Northeast of Brazil. Borborema consists of three mining concessions covering a total area of 29 km² plus the title to the main area of the prospect.
Operação
Almas
TO, Brazil
Aura Almas is an open-pit mining operation with ore processing through the CIL system, located in the Almas Greenstone Belt, a paleoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence. Almas is one of the largest and less explored Greenstone Belts in Brazil.
Operação
Minosa (San Andrés)
Copán, Honduras
The San Andrés Mine, fully owned by Aura, is located 360 km away from Honduras’ capital city of Tegucigalpa, at the country’s western mountains. Artisanal mining and exploring of the area were conducted in the 1930’s, and modernization initiated in 1983.
Operação
Apoena (EPP)
MT, Brazil
The Ernesto/Pau-a-pique (EPP) complex is located in Mato Grosso, Brazil, approximately 450 km west from Cuiabá, state ‘s capital, and 12 km from the city of Pontese Lacerda. Consists of a processing plant fed by mines in the open pit of Lavrinha, Japonês, Rio Alegre e Ernesto, beyond the underground deposit
Cuidado e manutenção
Escritórios corporativos
Operação
Projetos de crescimento
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Cuidado e manutenção
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Projetos de exploração
Aranzazu
Zacatecas, México
Production: 106,118 ounces of gold equivalent in 2023
Cash cost per GEO produced: $825/ounce of gold equivalent in 2023
Life of Mine: 8 years
Proven and Probable Reserves: 915 thousand ounces of gold equivalent
Measured and Indicated Resources: 1,605 thousand ounces of gold equivalent
Greenhouse gas emissions: 24k tonCO2eq (0.39 tonCO2eq/GEO)
Documented evidence of mining in the area dates back nearly 500 years. The current mine has been in operation since 1962, with Aura taking over ownership in 2008. In 2015, Aura closed the mine to redesign and restructure the mine entrances and production zones. The mine reopened in early 2018 and reached commercial production in December 2018. As of 2019, production was optimized, with gradual increases, and in the second half of 2021 it reached an installed capacity 30% higher than the reopening of the mine.
The Aranzazu mine is an underground copper mine operation, producing gold and silver as by-products. Underground mine production assumes a daily production of 3,350 tonnes per day using a combination of longitudinal mining and long-hole transverse mining methods for most of the deposit.
The existing concentrator facility was first commissioned under Aura in 2011. The existing flowsheet is conventional and comprises crushing, grinding, flotation and filtration systems where the ore is concentrated to a final concentration grade of 23% Cu. Conventional slurry tailings are disposed of at a new tailings storage facility designated TD5. The updated design incorporates the construction methodology for downstream dams, as well as embankments with zoned earth with internal drainage to control the water table surface in the embankment and increase stability.
The project is favorably situated in a semi-arid climate with net evaporation, and is not located within any protected natural areas, priority terrestrial regions or areas of wildlife conservation interest.
Aranzazu is located in the heart of the mining district of Concepción del Oro, which is a historic mining region that has been mined for the last 500 years. Aranzazu is one of the most important mineral deposits in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, and currently has 5 years of LOM. Aura owns 10,000 hectares of mineral rights and hopes to increase the LOM with current mine extensions and new targets in the district.
In the district of Concepción del Oro, a tertiary intrusive complex ranging in composition from quartz monzonite to granodiorite intrudes Jurassic and Cretaceous limestones along the axial plane of the El Mascaron antiform. Associated with the intrusive complex and its structural system and alteration regime, copper, gold and silver mineralization occurs as chimneys, mantles, stockworks and disseminations hosted in exoskarn, endoskarn, quartz monzonite, hornfels and marbles. These were obliterated by a post-skarn hydrothermal alteration, consisting of proplitic, phyllic and potassic alteration styles. Both mineralized and non-mineralized skarns are considered.
The mineralized body has a strike of 1.5 km, with a width of up to 250 meters and a depth of 600 m. The ore consists of seven mineralized domains which are BW, AA, Mexicana Sul and Norte, GH Area Footwall (GHFW) and GH Area Hangingwall (GHHW) and Cabrestante.
These domains are multiple chimney structures dipping to the southeast, varying between 70-90 degrees.
Current reserves are concentrated in the underground mine, mainly in the Glory Hole quarry. Aura is focused on exploration drilling in the deep Glory Hole range, as well as key targets such as Cabrestante, Catarroyo, Esperanza and El Cobre. The latter is at a more advanced stage of exploration with mineralization in vertical chimneys associated with ruptures cemented by hydrothermal events and skarn zones in contact between limestone and intrusive rocks.
Aranzazu has 10,000 acres of mineral rights with evident potential due to its strategic position in the district, where rocks related to mineralization are presented. Exploration works such as mapping, sampling and geophysics are part of the program that Aura is conducting to increase the district’s resources and reserves.
Carajás (Serra da Estrela)
Pará, Brazil
On February 27, 2023, the Company announced the acquisition of an exploration license in the polymetallic district of Carajás, in the state of Pará, Brazil, known as the Carajás Project.
This authorized license covers an area of 9,805 hectares and includes several targets for Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) mineralization along a 6 km strike. The area features a prominent surface anomaly with copper concentrations up to 500 ppm and has a history of previous exploration work, including nine historical drill holes totaling 2,552 meters, with positive intercepts demonstrating mineralization.
Aura has acquired the exploration rights and options to test the continuity and economic grades in the target area.
In 2023 and 2024, Aura successfully completed drilling of approximately 22,000 meters across 65 diamond drill holes, confirming and extending the length of the mineralized zone to 7 kilometers. The main mineralized zone, known as Trend S, which includes the West and East sections, stretches about 5 kilometers in a northeast-southwest direction. The 2024 exploration efforts led to the discovery of two new mineralized zones, Trend N and Trend SW, adding about 2 kilometers of new mineralized anomalies and expanding the project’s scope (see Image above).
Initial analyses of these exploration activities revealed zones of low to medium-grade copper (>0.2% Cu to <0.5% Cu) extending approximately 50 meters in thickness, predominantly in hydrothermally altered rocks containing disseminated sulfides. Within these broader zones, pockets of higher-grade copper (>0.5% Cu) were identified, typically ranging from 15 to 20 meters in thickness, characterized by vein-hosted mineralization. Additionally, areas of semi-massive sulfide with high-grade copper (>1% Cu) were observed, averaging about 5 meters in width (not representing the true width).
Drilling works are scheduled to continue until the end of 2024, with complete analytical results expected by Q1 2025.
Click here to access the Press Release with the latest exploration results in Carajás.
Matupá
MT, Brazil
Production: Average of 55 thousand ounces of gold per year up to the 4th year of operation
Cash cost per GEO produced: Average of $529/oz of gold up to the 4th year of operation
Estimated CAPEX: US$ 107 million
Net Present Value (NPV): US$ 96 million
Simple payback: 2.0 years
Proven and Probable Reserves: 309 thousand ounces of gold
Measured and Indicated Resources 331 thousand ounces of gold
*Based on weighted average consensus gold prices for the projected period of US$1,664 per ounce and debt/equity ratio of 50%:
The Matupá project is an open pit mining project with ore processing through the CIL system, which is 100% owned by Aura Minerals and is located near the cities of Matupá and Guarantã do Norte, Mato Grosso, Brazil. The property comprises 9 mineral rights located in the Ouro Alta Floresta Province, including the X1 and Serrinhas gold deposits and the Guarantã Ridge polymetallic deposit. In October 2022, Aura Minerals published the FS study (Feasibility Study) outlining the implementation of the Matupá project.
The stipulated capacity for the Matupá industrial circuit is 1.3 Mtpy for processing blends of the fresh rock and Oxide ore types. The treatment flow selected for Matupá includes crushing, grinding, gravimetric concentration and intensive leaching, followed by leaching, carbon adsorption, cyanide neutralization, tailings thickening and filtration for final disposal in piles. The FS contemplates a two-year detailed engineering and construction schedule. Total start-up capital costs during this period are estimated at US$107 million. The economic results are positive, with a payback period of only 2 years, NPV of US$ 96 million and IRR of 27.5%. The EIA/RIMA report was filed and the public hearing was held, important steps towards obtaining a preliminary license.
The Matupá project is located in the Juruena-Teles Pires Gold Province, specifically in the Peixoto de Azevedo District, where there are many other gold deposits. Aura believes that further exploration at Matupá presents an opportunity to expand and grow mineral resources and, consequently, to expand the Project’s LOM. The company has 62,505 acres of mineral rights and plans to maintain aggressive exploration in the coming years.
The Matupá Project area is part of the granite bodies of the Suíte Intrusiva Matupá, which have an intrusive geological relationship with the gneisses of the basement of the Cuiú-Cuiú complex and with the Diorite/Gabbro bodies, the oldest regional event. The Matupá Intrusive Suite was intruded by feldspathic quartz porphyries and late mafic to fine-grained porphyry fine-grained late mafic porphyry to intermediate dykes. These sequences are in contact with volcanic and pyroclastic rocks of the Colíder Group located north of the city of Guarantã do Norte.
The widespread gold mineralization of the Ouro de Alta Floresta Province (AFGP) exhibits an envelope with strong phyllic alteration (sericite+quartz+pyrite) related to acidic porphyritic dykes or potassium alteration, represented by the enrichment of biotite or microcline, and substitution of the original K feldspar, with or without silicification, and associated with disseminated sulfides, mainly pyrite
Gold deposits in the AFGP are divided into two large groups: (1) Deposits in epithermal high-grade quartz veins and related to ±(Zn-Pb-Cu-Fe) intrusions with restricted sericite, with chloritic and carbonate alteration; and (2) disseminated deposits of low ±(Ag-Bi-Te-Pb-Zn) with “phililic” alteration controlled by faults (muscovite-quartz-pyrite) and strong to moderate silicification.
The X1 Deposit, Serrinhas and V6 targets represent the disseminated gold mineralization hosted in the Matupá Granite. The Guarantã Ridge Deposit represents the epithermal stokwork mineralization where the ore occurs in zones of hydrothermal breccias and epithermal veins hosted in sediments interspersed with volcanic rocks of the Colíder Group. In addition, vein quartz veins, sometimes associated with massive sulfide mineralization, are found in shear zones in the Alto Alegre Block, such as the Valdemar and Eron veins, generally showing high grades of up to 261.1 g/t Au and 0.91% Cu.
Deposit X1 has a slightly northeast/southeast oriented preferential dip and low angle southwest dipping before an abrupt boundary. More exploration activities will be undertaken to test the continuity of X1 mineralization and to verify untested magnetic and charge anomalies on the property.
Surface activities such as soil and rock sampling with geological recognition have been carried out since 2019. As a result, a significant amount of gold occurrences and anomalies have been identified within a 50 km radius of the X1 deposit within the Aura mineral rights. Part of these anomalous areas was then tested with diamond drilling or shallow RC drilling campaigns, which confirmed many positive results, generating exploratory drilling targets.
At the Serrinhas Deposit, exploration activities began with the review of the historical drilling database, the relog of drill holes carried out by the Rio Novo team of geologists and the scheduling of the initial extension drilling in the MP2 Central and MP2 ore bodies. East. In addition, there is Alvo Parazinho, an old primary mining well related to a quartz vein in the shear zone between the geological contact of a mafic shale and a granodiorite.
Tolda Fría
Caldas, Colômbia
Fully owned by Aura Minerals, it was acquired through the merger of Rio Novo in 2018. The project, currently under care and maintenance, is located approximately 10 km southeast of the city of Manizales, in the department of Caldas, Colombia. This property contains significant high-grade mineralization and 14 km of underground development for exploration access that was used to complete a reserve estimate in compliance with 43-101.
São Francisco
MT, Brazil
Wholly owned by Aura, it is an open-pit heap leaching gold mine, located in the vicinity of the Aura EPP Complex, in the southwest of the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil, approximately 560 km west of Cuiabá, the state capital. Operation in San Francisco was suspended in October 2016 due to lack of bookings and high costs. The Company is conducting an exploration program in San Francisco to determine if restarting is feasible. The property contains a significant amount of gold resources in the mining and exploration concessions along the Guaporé Gold Belt. A significant cost reduction and synergies with the EPP Complex are expected.
Borborema
RN, Brazil
Production: Average of 83,000 ounces of gold per year up to the 3rd year of productio
Cash cost per GEO produced: Average of US$ 862/ounce in the first three years up to the 3rd year of productio
Estimated CAPEX: US$ 188 million
Net Present Value (NPV): US$ 182 million
Simple Payback 3.2 years
Proven and Probable Reserves: 812 thousand ounces of gold
Measured and Indicated Resources: 2,077 thousand ounces of gold
*Based on weighted average consensus gold prices for the projected period of US$1,712 per ounce and debt/equity ratio of 50%
The Borborema Project is located in the Seridó region, in Rio Grande do Norte state, Northeast of Brazil. Borborema consists of three mining concessions covering a total area of 29 km² plus the title to the main area of the prospect.
The mineral exploration rights covering a total of 410 km² extend along the Borborema mining concessions trend and remain prospective to add resources to the Borborema inventory in the near future.
A Definitive Feasibility Study was completed in December 2019 for the Borborema Stage 1 development and updated in July 2020 in line with JORC standards. Aura is currently updating the Feasibility Study considering CIM standards.
The Borborema Project is an open pit mine potentially at least 300 meters below the surface. The operation will be staged to maximize returns and Phase 1 will have an initial lifespan of 10 years before expansion.
The ore body is consistently 30 meters to 35 meters thick and up to 50 meters, remains open in all directions and appears to have a high-grade gold vein developing to the south. Resources and reserves were clearly defined and the project significantly reduced risk through the 104,500 meters of drilling that highlights a continuous and consistent single ore body, approximately 3.5 km long with a high-grade core that can be optimized in the mine plan.
There are no metallurgical problems with the ore and metallurgical tests indicate gold recoveries of 92.1% with short residence times and low reagent consumption through a conventional CIL circuit.
The Borborema Project is located in the Borborema Province, in the Seridó Belt domain, in Northeast Brazil. The regional basement is composed of Archean and Paleoproterozoic gneisses and migmatites discordantly covered by a sequence of supracrustal rocks of Neoproterozoic age belonging to the Seridó Group. The basal unit of this group is the Jucurutu Formation, composed of gneisses, amphibolites, marbles and calcic-silicate rocks. The middle unit is the Ecuador Formation of quartzites and metaconglomerates, while the upper unit, the Seridó Formation, is composed of micaschists and phyllites.
A number of quartz vein-hosted or vein-related gold deposits occur within the Seridó Belt, concentrated along the eastern margin of the Seridó Group, in addition to several skarn-style tungsten deposits that are often associated with different bismuth mineralizations, copper and gold. The Borborema deposit is the largest known occurrence of gold in the region.
The Borborema Project area is located at the top of the stratigraphy of the Seridó Group (Seridó Formation) within a sequence of banded arkose metapelitic schists, submitted to regional metamorphism of the upper amphibolite facies. The mineral assemblages are dominated by plagioclase, K-feldspar and quartz, with subordinate biotite, garnet, sillimanite, cordierite, muscovite and andalusite.
The deposit is considered a classic type of orogenic gold deposit and is located within an NNE trend structure. The shear zone has an NNE trend factory, dipping eastwards by about 35 degrees. The main mineralized shear zone is about 30 meters thick.
The mineralized sequence underwent complex multistage deformation, with bent, sheared, dismembered, and boudinated quartz and quartz-carbonate veins commonly associated with gold mineralization. Recrystallized sulfides, fine and disseminated to centimeter scale, dominated by pyrrhotite with lesser occurrence of pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite and galena are common within the mineralized zones.
Results from recent drilling of holes to assess mineralization potential 100 meters below the current resource demonstrate that the mineralized zone extends in depth and will help define resource boundaries for mine economic planning and pit design. In particular, hole CRDD 184 intercepted a thick zone of high-grade mineralization that is potential for underground mining. This high grade zone is potentially related to the high grade feed zone and will require additional drilling.
In addition to drilling, brownfield exploration focused on mapping and soil sampling within the deposit corridor, covering approximately 4 kilometers of strike length. A study of public domain geophysical data was also commissioned, which was integrated with local and more regional mapping (greenfields).
Almas
TO, Brazil
Production: average of 50 thousand ounces of gold per year (up to the 5th year of operation)
Cash cost per GEO produced: $648/oz of gold
Life of Mine: 7 years
Proven and Probable Reserves: 695 thousand ounces of gold
Measured and Indicated Resources: 876 thousand ounces of gold
Greenhouse gas emissions: 24k tonCO2eq (0.39 tonCO2eq/GEO)
Aura Almas is an open-pit mining operation with ore processing through the CIL system, located in the Almas Greenstone Belt, a paleoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence. Almas is one of the largest and less explored Greenstone Belts in Brazil. Aura holds 198,471 hectares of mineral rights in the region, representing a significant growth opportunity, as most of the gold produced in Brazil and worldwide comes from mineralization hosted in Greenstone Belts: Western Australia, West Africa, Guyana, Canada (Abitibi), and Quadrilátero Ferrífero (Minas Gerais).
The three main gold deposits of the Almas Project – Paiol, Cata Funda, and Vira Saia – are along a 15 km corridor of the Almas Greenstone Belt, which houses numerous occurrences of orogenic gold. The mining method for all deposits will be open-pit. The first deposit to be exploited will be Paiol, with production complemented in the following years by the Cata Funda and Vira Saia deposits. The ore will be processed in a plant with a classic CIL circuit to be implemented near the Paiol pit. In February 2021, Aura Minerals began construction activities for the project.
The area is situated within the Archean-Paleoproterozoic Greenstone Belt of Almas-Dianopolis (AGB). The greenstone belt is located on the Almas-Conceição land, in the western block of the Maciço de Goiás. The Paleoproterozoic granite-greenstone terrain is composed of folded granitic gneiss domes, narrow and folded domains of metabasic and metasedimentary rocks, including tholeiitic metabasalts and limestone-alkaline metatonalites that have undergone strong regional metamorphism.
Gold deposits can be considered as orogenic gold deposits and the mineralized zone occurs in the central zone of hydrothermal alteration, generally associated with variable amounts of quartz, carbonate, albite, sericite and sulfide minerals.
In Paiol and Cata Funda the mineralization is associated with hydrothermalized shear zones in basic to intermediate volcanic rocks, while in Vira Saia gold is directly associated with sulfides, quartz-sericitic mylonite formed in shear zones developed in granodiorite. At Morro do Carneiro, gold is associated with hydrothermal metacherts.
Paiol, Cata Funda and Vira Saia are not well drilled and there is an opportunity to increase mineral resources along the strike and at depth. Morro do Carneiro represents a good opportunity to increase resources with high grade veins.
Exploration work is being conducted by Aura on its mining rights along the Greenstone Belt. Gold occurrences, surface sampling results and historical drilling suggest great potential to develop new deposits in the medium to long term, including deposits with higher grades.
Minosa (San Andrés)
Copán, Honduras
Production: 65,927 ounces of gold in 2022
Cash cost per GEO produced: $1,254/ounce of gold in 2022
Life of Mine: 4 years
Proven and probable reserves: 551 thousand ounces of gold
Measured and Indicated Resources: 978 thousand ounces of gold
Greenhouse gas emissions: 24k tonCO2eq (0.39 tonCO2eq/GEO)
The San Andrés property has been commercially exploited since the 1930s by several companies until it was acquired by Aura in 2009.
The Mine has been in operation since 1983 and has a well-developed infrastructure that includes power and water supply, warehouses, maintenance facilities, a testing laboratory and on-site camping facilities for management, personnel and contractors.
This mine production uses conventional methods of drilling and blasting, loading and transportation, with ore production estimated at 5 to 7 Mtpy.
The ore is crushed and after preparation is stacked to carry out the leaching process. The ore leaching cycle takes approximately 45 days. During this time the recovery of the cyanide soluble gold is completed and then comes a resting step to drain off the remaining solution. After draining all the solution from the stacking area, a new level of stacking can be started for further leaching.
The gold recovery process is CIC in an ADR factory, which has 7 tanks with carbon columns that can be configured as PLS or ILS according to the concentration of the Au solutions. The nominal capacity of each tank is 500 m³/h.
The environmental management plan for San Andrés has numerous requirements, which are reviewed and addressed year after year, such as compliance with the International Cyanide Management Code, since San Andrés is a certified operator, and regular monitoring of biodiversity and Water.
The San Andrés mine is located in a fertile geological environment and Aura Minosa has approximately 50 km² of mineral rights and deposits with 10-year LOM reserves. The company is investing in exploration works to increase the mine’s LOM and has identified new potential deposits.
The San Andrés deposit is classified as an epithermal gold deposit associated with extensional structures within tectonic rifts. Gold occurs in quartz veins predominantly composed of colloidal banded quartz. The rocks that host the San Andrés deposit were oxidized close to the surface due to the weathering process. The oxidized zone ranges from 10 meters to over 100 meters in depth where pyrite has been altered to iron oxides such as hematite, goethite or jarosite. The oxide zone usually overlaps with a partial oxidation zone, called the mixed zone, which consists of both oxidized and sulfide material. The mixed zone may not occur continuously, but where it is present, it reaches thicknesses greater than 50 m. Below the oxidation zone; gold is commonly associated with sulfide minerals such as pyrite. The sulfide zone, or “cool zone”, is below the mixed zone.
Since Aura’s acquisition of Minosa, exploration activities conducted at the San Andrés Mine have consisted of detailed scale mapping, sampling of channel in road cutting and drilling. The exploration poll continued in the Minosa concession area, with the aim of extending current reserves in the Fault Zone A, converting inferred resources in the Buffa zone, and investigating potential zones of high content feeders of the system. In addition to extending current capabilities, Aura is performing surface work on regional targets such as SA IV and V.
Apoena (EPP)
MT, Brazil
Production: 46,006 ounces of gold in 2023
Cash cost per GEO produced: US$1,170/ounce in 2023
Life of Mine: 5 years
Proven and Probable Reserves: 276 thousand ounces of gold
Measured and Indicated Resources: 478 thousand ounces of gold
Greenhouse gas emissions: 24k tonCO2eq (0.39 tonCO2eq/GEO)
Aura, through its Brazilian subsidiaries, acquired the EPP complex in June 2016. The project was initially studied by former owners from 2009 to 2011 and was put into production in early 2013, until it was put into care and maintenance at the end of 2014. The project restarted in October 2016.
The Ernesto property contains a carbon leach processing plant (“CIL”) with a maximum capacity of 220 tons per hour. The process includes crushing, grinding, gold extraction/recovery and cyanide detoxification steps, followed by final disposal in a tailings storage facility. The open pit mines of Lavrinha, Japonês and Nosde are adjacent to Ernesto. The Pau-a-Pique property contains an underground mine and surface facilities for management and maintenance.
A review of the monitoring data indicates that the Company is complying with the monitoring, inspection and surveillance programs stipulated in the Ernesto and Pau-a-Pique Complex operating licenses. Water quality monitoring results indicate that existing facilities meet or exceed applicable federal standards for effluent and receiving water. There are no communities or permanent inhabitants within the Project coverage area.
Aguapeí Gold Belt has 4 mines and dozens of mining activities in its 165 km wide area. Aura owns approximately 2,675 km² of mineral rights in the Aguapeí Gold Belt, controlling almost 100% of the Belt, which represents an excellent growth opportunity through exploration activities in the vicinity of mines and regional targets. Aura owns approximately 2,675 km² of mineral rights in the Aguapeí Gold Belt, controlling almost 100% of the Belt, which represents an excellent growth opportunity through exploration activities in the vicinity of mines and regional targets.
The Ernesto and Pau a Pique complex deposits are located in the Aguapeí Group, composed of metasediments from a foreland basin folded and sheared under ductile-ruptile conditions commonly in tectonic contact with the basement. Strong hydrothermal alteration associated with gold mineralization occurs in fault zones associated with the lower contact of the Aguapeí Group with the basement.
Aura Apoena’s current reserves outline a 4-year mine life based on identified reserves at the Pau a Pique underground mine and at the Ernesto, Lavrinha, Japonês, Nosde mines. Aura is carrying out exploration work to extend the life of the mine as the ore bodies are opened up at depth. In addition to the extension of the current mines, Aura is testing priority targets such as Pombinhas and Japonês Oeste, which showed a similar mineralization system during initial exploration works.
The Aguapeí Gold Belt has several occurrences of gold along its 165 km wide area that have been little studied. Aura is carrying out greenfield exploration work and has identified several targets such as Bananal, Serra Quebrada, Guaporé-Sarararé, Area 3 and Area 5. The company will continue to work to bring these targets to the reserve level, in addition to identifying new targets.
