Aura Minerals is pleased to announce that it has completed the previously announced acquisition and assumed operational control of the Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique Project located in the southwest of Mato Grosso state, near Pontes e Lacerda in Brazil.
The Project consists of three deposits, two of which are underground and the third of which is open pit. These three deposits are currently being reviewed and three additional areas will be evaluated in 2017 and 2018.
The Lavrinha open pit and the Ernesto underground deposit are located approximately 60 kilometers ("km") south of the Company’s Sao Francisco mine and 12 km south of the town of Pontes e Lacerda. These two deposits are within close proximity to the Project’s processing plant.
The Pau-a-Pique underground mine has been on care and maintenance since 2013 and is located approximately 40 km south of the Ernesto and Lavrinha deposits and processing plant.
The three additional areas (Nosde, Japones and Pombihnas) are within 20 km of the processing plant.
The processing plant is centrally located to these deposits and additional areas and has a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day through a conventional carbon-in-leach process.
The facility includes crushing, milling, gold extraction/recovery and a tailings disposal facility with power supplied from the national grid. Significant infrastructure exists around the entire Project including paved roadways between all of the deposits and the town of Pontes e Lacerda.
The Company’s primary technical focus areas for the Project restart will be grade control, choice of the proper selective mining methods, geotechnical optimization to reduce dilution, improve overall gold recovery and lower cash operating costs at this relatively high grade Project.
In support of the Project, the Company announces the results of NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimates, which were performed in conjunction with ongoing Feasibility Studies for this project.
Mr. James Bannantine, Aura’s President and CEO stated, "As we previously noted, the acquisition of the Project is an excellent opportunity for the Company particularly given the location of the Project in Mato Grosso and the associated synergies with the Company’s Sao Francisco mine.
"We are confident that we will be able to restart the Project as a positive cash flowing mine in the second half of 2016. In addition to the Mineral Resource estimate, the Company is completing work on the mine plans for the various deposits of the Project and will issue Feasibility Studies shortly."