Aguia Uncovers Major New Vein and Boosts Gold Recovery at Santa Barbara
Aguia Resources has revealed a significant new gold vein discovery at its Santa Barbara project in Colombia, alongside operational upgrades that have markedly improved gold recovery and production quality.
- Discovery of new vein linking Mariana and Santa Barbara systems
- Channel samples show high gold grades up to 18.6 g/t
- Replacement of mine management and skilled operational staff
- Processing plant optimizations increase gold recovery towards 90%
- First doré produced and sent for refining in Medellin
Significant Geological Breakthrough
Aguia Resources Limited has announced a major new geological discovery at its Santa Barbara gold project in Colombia. Exploration efforts uncovered a previously unknown vein that appears to connect the existing Mariana and Santa Barbara vein systems, suggesting a far more extensive mineralised stockwork than previously understood. Channel sampling from an artisanal underground adit returned impressive gold grades of up to 18.6 grams per tonne, underscoring the potential scale and richness of this new vein network.
Operational Overhaul Drives Performance
Alongside the geological discovery, Aguia has overhauled its mine management and operational teams, replacing unskilled local labour with experienced personnel familiar with narrow vein mining and gold processing. This strategic shift has led to a significant reduction in mining dilution, with feed grades to the processing plant consistently exceeding 10 g/t gold. The company’s focus on selective mining practices has been pivotal in maintaining these higher grades.
Processing Plant Enhancements
Operational improvements extend to the processing plant, where modifications to the milling circuit have reduced grind size from 80% passing 75 microns to 80% passing 44 microns, better liberating gold particles averaging 50 microns. Plans are underway to upgrade mill motors from 20 HP to 40 HP, enhancing crushing capacity to support a target metallurgical recovery rate exceeding 90%. Additionally, the cyanidation process has been standardized, and the Merrill–Crowe system optimized to improve gold extraction efficiency.
First Doré Production and Next Steps
These combined efforts have culminated in the production of doré bars, which have been dispatched to a refining facility in Medellin for processing and assay analysis. The results of this refining will be critical in validating the operational improvements and guiding future production forecasts. Meanwhile, exploration drilling continues with 19 holes completed, focusing on delineating the continuity of the vein systems and expanding the understanding of the stockwork structure.
Looking Ahead
Executive Chairman Warwick Grigor described the new vein discovery as a potential game changer, likening the interconnected vein sets to major stockwork systems such as Buritica in Colombia. The company’s renewed operational focus and exploration strategy position Santa Barbara for a promising development trajectory, though further drilling and assay results will be essential to fully quantify the resource potential and production capabilities.
Bottom Line?
Aguia’s new vein discovery and operational upgrades set the stage for a transformative phase at Santa Barbara, with market eyes on upcoming assay and production data.
Questions in the middle?
- How will ongoing drilling refine the size and grade of the expanded vein system?
- What will the doré refining assays reveal about actual gold recovery improvements?
- Can the processing plant sustain the targeted +90% recovery rate at scale?