Aguia Resources has delivered a significant operational and financial turnaround at its Santa Barbara gold project in Colombia, slashing monthly costs by a staggering 74 per cent while consistently feeding high-grade ore of more than 10 grams per tonne (g/t) gold to its processing plant.
The impressive grade spike follows the company’s successful rollout of its new and improved extraction methods at Santa Barbara, which are specifically tailored for high-grade, narrow-vein underground mining.
The news is the latest in a string of successful operations updates for Aguia, with all-in site costs now running well below its budgeted levels. Monthly expenditure has dropped from A$459,000 in December last year to just A$117,000 in May.
The company says its staggering savings were mostly driven by disciplined, phased capital expenditure rather than under-investment. With the impressive grade and cost improvements kicking into gear, following a strategic shift to optimised mining methods tailored for the project’s high-grade, narrow-vein system.
Management says its prioritisation of underground development and capital works over short-term extraction volumes has led to lower gold production for the month, as anticipated. However, the work has set the stage for a production ramp-up, with both head grades and recoveries continuing to improve.
Aguia Resources managing director and chief executive officer Tim Hoskings said: "While production was expectedly lower, it is encouraging to note that grade and recoveries continue to improve. Mine development and capital works undertaken provide the basis for production to increase from here on.”
The development work has been extensive. At the project’s Vein 1, two shafts spaced 30 metres apart have been completed, allowing production to kick in at a new sublevel below the main haulage tunnel.
Meanwhile, development on Vein 2 is also progressing, with nine new mine faces now ready to go, supporting the planned production ramp-up from these stopes.
The work has positioned the operation as a bigger, better-configured mining platform to support increased gold production, whilst keeping costs under control.
The Colombian gold operation is just one half of Aguia’s story. The company recently kicked off long-awaited mining operations at its Tres Estrados phosphate project in Brazil, securing commercialisation and raking in A$600,000 in sales of its premium Pampafos product in the first two weeks alone.
The processing facility in Brazil’s agricultural heartland now boasts a potential annual capacity of over 200,000 tonnes per annum – a 30 per cent increase on previous estimates. With mining and sales campaigns well underway and delivering multiple revenue streams to Aguia for the first time in a long time.
With costs being brought firmly under control and high-grade ore now consistently feeding the mill in Colombia, Aguia appears to be getting its house in order.
As the cash keeps rolling in at pace, it may not be long at all before this dual-commodity performer starts expanding its ambitions, backed by a growing pile of cash.
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By Andrew Todd
