Aguia Resources has delivered its highest gold grades to date from its Santa Barbara project in Colombia, with new channel sampling results returning multi-ounce hits, including a spectacular 128.5 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.
The impressive result, measured across a width of 16 centimetres, was accompanied by another high-grade sample grading a hefty 60.7g/t gold over 30cm, also from newly accessed ground beneath Vein No. 1.
The company says it has now completed two production shafts beneath Vein No. 1, established new production sublevels, and opened fresh mining faces, while construction is already underway on three additional shafts. The underground expansion is steadily increasing the company's exposure to mineralised structures while simultaneously providing new drill platforms to test the system at depth.
Although the final remnants of Stope No. 1 still coughed up bonanza grades of up to 63.88g/t gold, with several samples topping an ounce to the tonne, Aguia has elected to close that level as the vein is starting to pinch out.
Attention has also now swung to freshly opened mining faces on Vein No. 2, which runs parallel to Vein No.1 and lies 50m to the west, where the next chapter of underground development is already underway.
The results are a cherry on top of a six-month restructuring that has transformed the once-faltering start-up into a high-grade gold operation now hitting its stride.
The company says the mine and processing plant delivered their best performance to date in June, producing 851.9 grams from 100 tonnes of ore, a threefold increase on the previous month.
Aguia Resources managing director and chief executive officer Timothy Hoskings said: “We ended June ahead of schedule following six months of restructuring, optimisation and planning with gold grades and recoveries improving considerably. CAPEX and OPEX are significantly below last year, and total operating costs have been reduced by more than half.”
The improved performance came from mining the highest-grade section of the project’s main gold-bearing structure, Vein No. 1, beneath Shaft 2. The company says thicker, more consistent mineralisation was delivered, resulting in ore grading more than 10g/t gold to the processing plant.
Following site management changes, Aguia says first-half 2026 costs fell sharply compared with the previous six months. Capital expenditure was slashed by 80 per cent, operating expenditure dropped 56 per cent and overheads fell 38 per cent, reducing total operating expenses by an impressive 57 per cent.
The stronger performance came from both tighter grade control and more selective mining of Santa Barbara's high-grade gold veins, which naturally widen and narrow along their length. This makes them technically demanding to mine. If too much surrounding waste rock is mined with the ore, gold grades can fall dramatically.
Notably, when miners stay tightly on the vein, relatively small mining volumes can generate solid gold production because of the exceptionally high grades. Aguia's ability to consistently deliver ore grading more than 10g/t gold suggests it appears to have found the right mining formula.
Having stabilised the operation and sharply reduced costs, the company then turned its attention to improving the tools of production. Plant repairs, equipment upgrades and the installation of mechanised mining equipment are now complete ahead of the next stage of mining.
Aguia says the expanded mining areas at Vein No. 2 and the new sublevels to Vein No. 1 will feed the project's hungry gold processing plant, which now has a capacity of more than 250 tonnes per month, supporting Aguia's target to process 150 tonnes in August and 200 tonnes in September.
The planned production ramp-up is also being underwritten by a strong gold market, with spot gold trading steadily around A$5700 per ounce.
While Santa Barbara is grabbing the gold headlines, Aguia is rapidly expanding a second revenue stream in southern Brazil through its Três Estradas phosphate project, which produces the company’s organic fertiliser for the country's agricultural heartland.
Just this month, the company announced its premium phosphate product, dubbed Pampafos, had clocked over A$2.3 million in sales within six weeks of commissioning, confirming a transition from development to a revenue-generating operation.
With gold sales now beginning to offset overheads in Colombia and the operation targeting break-even costs this quarter, Santa Barbara looks to be moving closer to funding its own growth.
Aguia's new cash flow from both of its operations may also help to support a scheduled fourth-quarter return to exploration in Colombia. Drilling will test extensions to the high-grade vein system, which still remains largely unexplored using modern techniques.
There appears to be plenty of blue sky on the horizon for Aguia with commercial sales of its Pampafos fertiliser product running hot and production at Santa Barbara now ticking over nicely.
After years of groundwork, the company looks to have turned a corner and is entering a new chapter focused on delivering revenue growth from its South American operations.
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By Murray Ward
