Soma Gold has received the first shipment of mined material from the Diamantina Mine, now formalised under Colombian regulations, at its El Limon Mill in Zaragoza, Antioquia.

This development follows more than five years of efforts to formalise the Diamantina operation, enabling Soma Gold to purchase mineralised rock in return for a portion of the gold in each delivery.

The Diamantina Mine is authorised to produce a maximum of 40 tonnes per day (tpd) of material, aiming to achieve this output level by mid-year.

Meanwhile, 1,700t of accumulated material from Diamantina is presently being moved to the mill for processing.

The mine is said to be the first operation among 24 small mines in various stages of formalisation.

These mines, including 23 others nearing completion, are part of around 60 small mining operations on Soma's 43,000-hectare property.

Additional small mines are expected to begin the formalisation process with Soma Gold.

The El Limon Mill, which resumed operations in the third quarter of 2025, aims to boost milling capacity to handle output from the company's Aurora and Escondida mines as well as incoming material from formalised small miners.

Ore from these sources will be processed either at the El Limon Mill or Soma's El Bagre Mill, where new ore sorting equipment is being set up.

The equipment has reached Colombia and is expected to be operational by mid-2026.

The company anticipates that the ore sorting technology will be fully commercialised in the latter half of this year.

When it becomes operational, the system is expected to boost throughput at the El Bagre Mill from 450tpd to between 700 and 750tpd.

Soma CEO Geoff Hampson said: “We are pleased that, after many years of effort, we have completed the formalisation process for the first small mine on our property. We expect this will be a catalyst to begin formalising additional small miners and to expedite the completion of the process for those already in the pipeline.

“Formalisation of small miners has been a key part of our strategy for many years, and it is gratifying to see the first one complete. This is an important part of how we increase production and capture the gold being produced on our property.”

Soma Gold's 2025 gold equivalent output stood at 18,670oz.