Aura Minerals Inc. announced Thursday that its 100% subsidiary, Aranzazu Holding SA de CV (Aranzazu) recently completed a competitive bidding process for a new purchase agreement with respect to the copper-gold concentrate produced at the Aranzazu mine in Mexico.
In connection with the completion of the bidding process, Aranzazu has entered into a purchase agreement (the New Agreement) with Trafigura México, S.A. de C.V. (Trafigura), by virtue of which Trafigura agreed to purchase 100% of the copper and gold concentrate produced in Aranzazu during the term of the New Agreement.
The New Agreement takes effect from the beginning of 2022 and continues until the end of 2024.
The current purchase agreement in effect with IXM Metals (the Existing Agreement) will remain in effect until the end of 2021.
As a result of a strong competitive process and better market conditions for copper, Aura expects Aranzazu to achieve material savings under the New Agreement, improving gross margins by 4 percentage points compared to the terms of the Existing Agreement.
Aura Minerals
Rodrigo Barbosa, president and CEO of the company stated: “In 2018 our priority was to restart Aranzazu under a detailed and sustainable production plan. Since we restarted the project last year, we have been investing in geology and exploration to also increase the life of the mine, in addition to optimizing operating efficiency.
“As a result, we have been able to exceed the initial expectations established in the Feasibility Study for certain KPIs, such as recoveries and dilutions. Now we were able to improve the conditions of our purchase agreement, taking advantage of a competitive process and favorable market conditions ”.
Aura Minerals is a mid-tier copper and gold producer focused on the development and operation of gold and base metals projects in the Americas.
Aura Minerals’ producing assets include the San Andrés gold mine in Honduras, the Ernesto / Pau-a-Pique gold mine in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold and silver mine in Mexico and the Gold Road gold mine in the United States.
In addition, Aura Minerals has two additional gold projects in Brazil, Almas and Matupá, and one gold project in Colombia, Tolda Fria.
