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Aura Minerals Announces Record High Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2020 Production Results

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Aura Minerals Announces Record High Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2020 Production Results

 

 

 

 

 

Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX: ORA) (B3: AURA33)  is pleased to announce the preliminary production results for the fourth quarter of 2020.

 

Aura reached record high quarterly production with 68,964 gold equivalent ounces during the fourth quarter of 2020.  This compares to production of 53,386 GEO1 in the same period of 2019.

 

Rodrigo Barbosa, the Company’s President and CEO noted, “We are pleased to share with the market that our strategic plan continues to deliver the growth we have promised.  The fourth quarter yielded a 20% production growth compared to the third quarter and there still much more work planned for continued improvement. For the year end, despite the negative impact of the pandemic on our operations in the first semester, Aura reached over 200,000 gold equivalent ounces during the year, a +15% increase compared with 2019.  We look forward to an even better year ahead for 2021.”

 

Preliminary GEO production volume for the three months ended December 31, 2020, when compared to the previous quarter and the same period of 2019 were recorded by each operating mine as follows:

 

  For the three
months ended
December 31, 2020
For the three
months ended
September 30, 2020
For the three
months ended
December 31, 2019
% change
vs. Q3
2020
% change
vs. Q4
2019
Ounces produced (GEO1)          
   San Andres 18,768 18,802 18,729 0 % 0%
   EPP Mines2 26,332 19,484 14,704 +35 % +79%
   Aranzazu3 19,073 17,909 19.953 +6 % (4%)
   Gold Road4 4,791 1,530 N/A 213 % N/A
Total GEO produced – current prices 68,964 57,725 53,386 +19 % +29%

________________________

Gold equivalent ounces, or GEO, is calculated by converting the production of silver and copper into gold using a ratio of the prices of these metals to that of gold. The prices used to determine the gold equivalent ounces are based on the weighted average price of silver and copper realized from sales at the Aranzazu Complex during the relevant period.
Includes ounces produced and which were capitalized for projects at pre-commercial production stages.
GEO calculated for Aranzazu using the realized weighted average prices of copper, silver and gold from each of Q4 2020, Q3 2020 and Q4 2019.
Includes ounces capitalized in Q3 and Q4 2020. The Gold Road Project was acquired by Aura in March 2020 and had no production in the first and second quarters of 2020.

 

A summary of the performance by each operating mine is explained below:

 

  • San Andres: Consistent results when compared to the previous quarters although below our expectations due to the negative impact in October and November as a result of tropical storms Eta and Iota which resulted in lower than projected production.
  • EPP Mines: Another record quarter since the EPP start-up in 2016 as result of increase in ore mined and higher grades due to production at the Ernesto pit.
  • Aranzazu:  As expectedgrades were lower in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to mine sequencing. Still, during the month of December 2020, 89,119 tons of ore were processed at the mill, an increase of 15% when compared to the same period of 2019 and 26% when compared to the average over the first 9 months of 2020. Aura expects Aranzazu to further increase capacity during 2021, achieving 100,000 tons per month during the second half of 2021.
  • Gold Road: Aura announced that Gold Road declared commercial production in December 2020. Mine development and plant ramp-up performed according to plan; however, as the Company started the ramp-up along with geological studies to increase its knowledge of the mine, production was lower than anticipated due to a lower than expected grade in one area which the Company was unable to offset elsewhere.
  • Total production across Aura’s operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 achieved 204,230 Ounces of Gold Equivalent, an increase of 15% compared to the previous year. Despite all the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 Pandemic, production increased in all business units when compared to 2019, as set forth below:

 

  For the twelve
months ended
December 31, 2020
For the twelve
months ended
December 31, 2019
% change
Ounces produced (GEO1)      
   San Andres 60,769 58,374 +4%
   EPP Mines1 71,643 55,933 +28%
   Aranzazu2 65,497 63,209 +4%
   Gold Road3 6,321 0 N/A
Total GEO produced – current prices 204,230 177,516 +15%

______________________

1 Includes ounces produced and which were capitalized for projects at pre-commercial production stages.
2 GEO calculated for Aranzazu using the realized weighted average prices of copper, silver and gold from each of Q4 2020, Q3 2020 and Q4 2019.
3 Includes ounces capitalized in Q3 and Q4 2020. The Gold Road Project was acquired by Aura in March 2020 and had no production in the first and second quarters of 2020.

 

Qualified Person

 

Farshid Ghazanfari, P.Geo., Geology and Mineral Resources Manager for Aura Minerals Inc. has reviewed and confirmed the scientific and technical information contained within this news release and serves as the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

 

About Aura 360° Mining

 

Aura is focused on mining in complete terms – thinking holistically about how its business impacts and benefits every one of our stakeholders: our company, our shareholders, our employees, and the countries and communities we serve. We call this 360° Mining.

 

Aura is a mid-tier gold and copper production company focused on the development and operation of gold and base metal projects in the Americas. The Company’s producing assets include the San Andres gold mine in Honduras, the Ernesto/Pau-a -Pique gold mine in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico and the Gold Road gold mine in the United States. In addition, the Company has two additional gold projects in Brazil, Almas and Matupá, and one gold project in Colombia, Tolda Fria.

 

Posted January 7, 2021

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