Aura Minerals, a mining company with operations in Honduras, Brazil and Mexico, has unveiled the Feasibility Study (FS) results for its Borborema project in Brazil.
Borborema project is located in the southern portion of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, 26km east of the town of Currais Novos and 35km west of the town of Santa Cruz.
The project is planned to be developed as an open-pit gold mine, with an anticipated production of 748,000 ounces (oz) of gold over an initial mine life of 11.3 years.
With the completion of the positive FS, Aura intends to start full construction of the project, which is estimated to cost around $188m.
Aura president and CEO Rodrigo Barbosa said: “Borborema is expected to contribute significantly to our overall production profile, and we are delighted to announce this highly accretive Feasibility Study.
Our optimism extends beyond the current findings, as a potential additional of 1.265 million ounces are expected to be converted to reserves following the completion of a 5.3 km road relocation besides new resources that should be added in the future once ore body remains opened along strike and down dip.
Borborema is poised to set new benchmarks with its important contributions to ESG standards by using treated greywater from the local community, utilizing renewable energy sources, and relying on a robust local labor force.”
In addition, Dundee Resources, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dundee Corp., has opted to convert its 20% equity interest in Borborema into a net smelter royalty (NSR).
Dundee will convert its equity interest into 1.50% NSR on the sale of the first 1,500,000oz of gold, and 1% on the sale of 500,000oz of gold, subsequently.
Upon reaching the production threshold of 2,000,000oz of gold, the royalty will be terminated.
Barbosa added: “We are grateful for Dundee’s technical insights in getting us to this stage. Both of our teams worked hard together and both companies will benefit as we advance this project to construction and production by early 2025.”
