Aura stops investing in Gold Road mine, considering its disposal
(Kitco News) - Yesterday, Aura Mineralsannounced that its Board of Directors has decided not to continue investing inits indirect wholly owned subsidiary Z79 Resources, Inc. ("Z79") and itsindirect wholly owned subsidiary Gold Road Mining Corp. ("GRMC") to focus onits larger operations and projects.
The company said that Z79 andGRMC are evaluating strategic alternatives including the potential disposal ofthe Gold Road mine and related assets.
"In the meantime, the Boardof Directors of GRMC have decided that it is in the best interests of GRMC togradually wind down its operations and begin the process of putting the GoldRoad mine in care and maintenance in the short term," the company said in astatement.
Aura explained that mainreasons for this decision were lower than expected grades and results reported,in addition to the results of geological studies that did not confirm GoldRoad's ability to gradually increase production in the medium term according tothe company's targets.
Therefore, Aura said it decidedto limit its cash losses with Gold Road and focus capital and efforts on largerprojects which will have a higher relevance to its growth strategy such asAlmas, Matupa and others.
Importantly, the companyadded that of the total 191,389 gold equivalent ounces ("GEO") produced by allAura's subsidiaries in the first 9 months of 2021, only 9,614 GEO came from theGold Road mine (5% of total) and the company's management expectations werethat the percentage contribution to total production at Gold Road would havecontinued to reduce once planned new projects are put in production in thecoming years.
Aura is a mid-tier gold andcopper production company focused on the development and operation of gold andbase metal projects in the Americas. The company's producing assets include theSan Andres gold mine in Honduras, the Ernesto/Pau-a -Pique gold mine in Brazil,and the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico.
In addition, the companyindirectly owns the Gold Road mine in the United States and has two additionalgold projects in Brazil, Almas and Matup??, and one gold project in Colombia,Tolda Fria.
By Vladimir BasovFor Kitco News
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