Marrakech – Aya Gold & Silver Inc. announced yesterday that it has received approximately $8 million in compensation related to its Zgounder Expansion Project.
The payment was made under bank guarantees issued on behalf of Duro Felguera and its affiliates, the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.
The compensation was received by Zgounder Millenium Silver Mining, a subsidiary of Aya, pursuant to the EPC agreement. According to the press release, this recovery of funds highlights the company’s strong project oversight, risk mitigation, and disciplined approach to contract enforcement.
The announcement comes as the Zgounder Mine expansion was, according to company reports in 2024, 99% complete by the end of September that year, with commercial production expected in Q4-2024. At the time, the expansion was projected to quadruple silver production to 6.8 million ounces per year.
Located approximately 260 kilometers east of Agadir in the central Anti-Atlas mountains, Zgounder is considered the second most important silver mine in Morocco after the Imiter Mine. The mine is accessible via well-maintained paved highways from Agadir to Taliouine, with the final stretch traveled on a dirt road.
The Zgounder mining permit covers 16 km², while Zgounder Regional consists of 7 mining permits and 18 exploration permits covering an additional 350 km². The mine has shown steady growth in recent years, with total silver production increasing from 258,469 ounces in 2018 to 1,970,646 ounces in 2023.
In February 2022, a feasibility study confirmed strong economics for expanding the mine’s throughput from 700 tons per day to 2,700 tons per day.
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This expansion involves building a 2,000 tpd flotation-CIP plant to produce silver bars. The study, supported by a high-grade reserve estimate, projected low life-of-mine all-in sustaining costs of $9.58 per ounce.
For 2024, Aya planned a 40,000-meter drill program at Zgounder. Of this, 30,000 meters will follow up underground targets generated by previous near-mine programs, while 10,000 meters of diamond drilling are planned on the Zgounder Regional permits to find similar mineralization and test Cu-Ag mineralization at Tirzzit.
The company’s production in 2024 reached 1.65 million ounces of silver despite ongoing expansion works. With the new ore processing plant now operational, production is expected to triple to 5 million ounces this year, surpassing the output of the Imiter mine.
Besides Zgounder, Aya is advancing its Boumadine project, which is reportedly larger than Zgounder. Located south of Tinejdad, this polymetallic deposit is undergoing a drilling campaign that will enable a preliminary economic assessment before the end of 2025, potentially leading to the opening of a new mine in 2026.
The initial assessment will focus on a 5.4-kilometer perimeter with resources of approximately 5 million ounces of gold equivalent. Previous drilling has shown that the polymetallic mineralization extends in all directions, including to depths of up to 1 kilometer.
Aya Gold & Silver is a Canada-based silver producer with operations in Morocco. It is the only TSX-listed pure silver mining company and has seen its market capitalization grow from CAD 948 million in 2021 to CAD 1.7 billion in 2025, an increase of approximately 79%.
The company’s management team, led by President and CEO Benoit La Salle, previously developed Semafo, which successfully operated mines in several African countries.
This expertise, combined with Morocco’s favorable mining environment, has contributed to Aya’s rapid growth in the national mining sector.