Aura Minerals (AUGO) Mining Forum Americas 2026 summary

Strategy and operating scale

• Shareholder-value approach: grow production, pay significant dividends, maintain manageable leverage and improve valuation multiples.

• Operations expanded from three producing mines three years ago to six: four gold mines in Brazil, one in Honduras and one copper mine in Mexico.

• 2026 production guidance: 340,000-390,000 oz gold equivalent; production has increased more than 170% since 2018.

• Growth model combines building greenfield projects on time and budget with acquiring and improving non-core assets.

Costs, cash flow and capital returns

• 2025 AISC was $1,458/oz, placing operations in the gold sector’s first quartile; excluding MSG, AISC is in the $1,600 range.

• MSG AISC is above $3,000/oz in 2026 during its turnaround; costs are expected to approach $2,000/oz from 2027.

• EBITDA rose from $134 million in 2023 to more than $800 million in the last 12 months; strong EBITDA-to-free-cash-flow conversion supports investment and distributions.

• Almost $700 million invested in expansion, mainly acquisitions and project construction; geology and exploration spending has accelerated since 2022, with reserves growing faster than depletion.

• More than $440 million distributed through dividends and buybacks over the last 4.5 years; dividend yields typically ranged from 5%-6%, while net debt/EBITDA never exceeded 0.7x and is now 0.2x.

Growth projects and production targets

• Portfolio projects are expected to support at least 600,000 oz of production in the medium term; acquisitions are being pursued toward a 1 million oz producer over that timeframe.

• Borborema reached commercial production and is ramping up, with full production in 2026; Era Dorada is under construction, and Matupá is ready to build after Era Dorada advances.

• Era Dorada is expected to add more than 110,000 oz/year; construction is expected to finish by end-2027, with production starting in early 2028.

• Almas plant capacity is expanding from 1.3 million to 3 million tonnes this year; the project was built for $76 million and has an NPV close to $1.2 billion.

• Borborema had CapEx below $200 million and NPV close to $1.7 billion; proven and probable reserves increased from below 800,000 oz at construction announcement to almost 2 million oz.

• Era Dorada has $380 million CapEx and $1.3 billion NPV at a $3,200 gold-price assumption.