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ROAD TOWN, British Virgin Islands, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX: ORA) (B3: AURA33) (OTCQX: ORAAF) (“Aura” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has filed updated technical reports (the “Reports”) for its Aranzazu, Almas and Minosa mines. The Reports can be found on the Company’s website at www.auraminerals.com or under the Company’s issuer profile at www.sedarplus.ca. The Reports have been prepared in accordance with the disclosure and reporting requirements set forth in the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”), Companion Policy 43-101CP to NI 43-101 and Form 43-101F1 Technical Report, as well as the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves
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Aranzazu Mine
The Aranzazu Property is situated in the Municipality of Concepción del Oro, within the State of Zacatecas, Mexico, near the northern boundary with the State of Coahuila. It hosts the Aranzazu deposit; a skarn deposit enriched with copper, gold, and silver. The site is located in a rugged mountainous region and can be accessed from the city of Zacatecas, approximately 250 km to the southwest, or from Saltillo, a city 112 km to the northeast in Coahuila. The Property has seen intermittent mining related activities, including open pit and underground excavations, since the 16th century.
Aura has held full ownership of the property since 2008 through its wholly-owned subsidiary Newington Corporation S.L (Newington) and its wholly-owned Mexican subsidiary, Aranzazu Holding S.A. de C.V. (Aranzazu Holding). The site includes the Aranzazu underground mine, where Aura initiated commercial production from the Aranzazu deposit in 2008. Production was paused from 2009 to 2011, resumed from 2011 to 2015, and then paused again from 2015 to 2018 before re-starting full production. The Mine produces a saleable concentrate containing copper, gold, and silver. In 2024, the Mine produced 77.6 thousand tonnes (kt) of concentrate from 1,229 kt of mill feed with average grades of 1.5% Cu, 0.83 g/t Au, and 22 g/t Ag.
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Highlights of Aranzazu Report:
- Measured Mineral Resources are estimated to total 11.83 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 1.28% Cu, 0.90 g/t Au, and 19 g/t Ag and contain 334,546 thousand pounds of copper (klb Cu), 342 thousand ounces of gold (koz Au), and 7,388 thousand ounces of silver (koz Ag). Indicated Mineral Resources are estimated to total 8.28 Mt at a grade of 1.03% Cu, 0.57 g/t Au, and 18 g/t Ag and contain 187,374 klb Cu, 152 koz Au, and 4,872 koz Ag. Inferred Mineral Resources are estimated to total 5.62 Mt at a grade of 0.82% Cu, 0.44 g/t Au, and 14 g/t Ag, containing 101,897 klb Cu, 79 koz Au, and 2,496 koz Ag. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves.
- Mineral Reserves are estimated to total 11.47 Mt, grading 1.04% Cu, 0.64 g/t Au, and 17 g/t Ag, and containing 264,102,000 lb Cu, 237,000 oz Au, and 6,129,000 oz Ag.
- Mineral Resources are estimated using long-term price of US$2,000 per ounce of gold, US$4.20 per pound of copper, US$25 per ounce of silver.
- Mineral Reserves are estimated using an average long-term price of US$2,000/oz Au, US$4.20/lb Cu, and US$25.00/oz Ag.
- Adopted metallurgical recoveries are 91.3% Cu, 79.5% Au, and 62.8% Ag.
- Average annual production of 61.2 koz gold with a planned life of mine (“LOM”) of 10 years assuming 2Mt throughput, based on Mineral Reserves estimated in accordance with CIM (2014).
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Almas Mine
The Almas Project is host to an open pit mining operation situated in the south-central region of Tocantins State, Brazil. The three main gold deposits of the Almas Project include Paiol, Cata Funda, and Vira Saia, which are situated along a 15 kilometre (km) corridor of the Almas Greenstone Belt. All three gold deposits are orogenic in nature and are considered amenable to open pit mining. The Paiol deposit is currently being mined, with Cata Funda and Vira Saia to complement production in later years.
The Almas Project was acquired by Aura when Aura entered into a merger with its previous owner, Rio Novo Mineração Ltda. (Rio Novo), in 2018. The Project includes a historical open pit and a spent heap leach stockpile at Paiol, which was operated by Companhia VALE do Rio Doce (VALE) from 1996 until 2001, as well as several small-scale artisanal gold mining sites, locally termed garimpos, whose development preceded the exploration activities of Rio Novo.
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The site currently includes the Paiol open pit mine, where Aura initiated commercial production in 2023. Annual plant production targets two million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) and produces gold doré bars from ore processed through a carbon-in-leach (CIL) process with gold electrowinning and smelting. In 2024, the mine produced 54,003 ounces (oz) of gold from 1,637,574 tonnes