en.Wedoany.com Reported - Soma Gold Corp. has obtained an explosives permit, the final authorization required to restart operations at the Aurora mine, as the company is now transporting ore to the El Bagre gold complex. Meanwhile, mineralized material extraction has commenced at the El Limon mine, with shipments to the El Bagre processing plant underway.
Soma acquired the Aurora mine in 2024, which had previously been in production. After a comprehensive rehabilitation, the mine has been equipped with new electrical, ventilation, and hoisting systems, and underground operations have been upgraded, including the installation of new rail lines. Development work is ongoing at levels 5 and 6. Development activities have already yielded ore, and commercial production is expected later this year, with output reaching 20 tons per day. Additionally, the mine is currently delivering 10 to 15 tons of ore per day to the processing plant.
The El Limon mine operated from 1995 until its closure in 2020 due to low gold prices, after which it was allowed to flood. The mine has now been dewatered to level 5, and multiple stopes and pillars left behind prior to closure are being mined. The remaining resources at the mine require further exploration and testing to be fully quantified, but in the interim, it provides a valuable additional source of ore for the processing plant.
The company has also received a new underground haul truck, ordered last year, to support the growing operations at the Cordero mine. As the Cordero mine expands, haul distances have increased, requiring additional haulage capacity to meet production targets. By the time the new truck arrived, the average grade at the Cordero mine had returned to expected levels.
Soma CEO Geoff Hampson stated that the increase in production from the Cordero mine, combined with ore deliveries from the Escondida, El Limon, and Aurora mines, has collectively raised the total tonnage of feed produced. Once these mines achieve full production, it will justify starting processing at the El Limon plant. Adding sorting equipment at El Bagre will further support the processing of feed from the Nechi mine, which is expected to begin production in the third quarter of 2027. The company is also continuously sourcing additional feed from Lemoncito Norte, Diamantina, and other small, formalized, and legal mining operations in the region.
Soma holds over 430 square kilometers of mineral rights along the rich OTU fault zone in the Antioquia province and operates two fully permitted processing plants located less than 25 kilometers apart. The combined capacity of these two plants is 675 tons per day, with approved expansion capacity to 1,400 tons per day. The El Bagre plant currently processes 450 tons per day, while the El Limon plant resumed operations in the third quarter of 2025.
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