Aura Minerals has commenced early-stage construction activities at the Era Dorada project in Guatemala after it obtained the construction licence, a key milestone in advancing the gold development.

The project is situated in the Department of Jutiapa, around 160km by road from the capital, Guatemala City, and roughly 9km west of the border with El Salvador.

Initial activities at Era Dorada consist of constructing platforms for equipment and temporary facilities, controlled vegetation clearing, developing internal access roads, dewatering the mine, environmental programmes and rerouting the main access road.

In January 2025, Aura finalised the purchase of Bluestone Resources, which wholly owns the Era Dorada project, previously called Cerro Blanco.

The acquisition included all preliminary permits required to develop the underground mine.

Aura president and CEO Rodrigo Barbosa said: “After extensive dialogue with local authorities and community representatives – during which we shared detailed information about Aura and our Era Dorada project, including our recent formal decision to proceed exclusively with underground operations – we obtained the construction licence, which was a requirement to advance and commence early works on the project.

“At the Era Dorada project, we have spent so far more than 853 hours establishing ongoing dialogue roundtables with local communities – direct, continuous forums that exemplify our commitment to transparency and inclusion.

“At Aura, we are deeply committed to responsible mining, upholding human rights, and ensuring that the development of Era Dorada delivers distributed, positive impacts for both the environment and surrounding communities.”

Aura develops and operates gold and base metal projects throughout the Americas.

In December last year, Aura completed the acquisition of the Mineração Serra Grande gold mine in Crixás, Goiás, Brazil, from AngloGold Ashanti.