Soma Gold has received its first load of mining material from the Maintina mine, now formalized under Colombian regulations, at the El Limon mill in Zaragoza, Antioquia.
The development follows more than five years of efforts to formalize the Diamantina operation, enabling Soma Gold to buy ore in exchange for a fraction of the gold in each delivery.
The Diamantina mine is permitted to produce 40 tonnes per day (tpd) of material, with the aim of achieving production levels by mid-year.
Meanwhile, 1,700t of material collected from Diamantina is currently being transported to the plant for processing.
The mine is said to be the first of 24 small mines in various stages of formalization to be operational.
These mines, along with 23 others nearing completion, are part of about 60 small-scale mining operations on Soma’s 43,000-hectare property.
Additional small mines are expected to start the formalization process with Soma Gold.
The El Limon mill, which resumed operations in the third quarter of 2025, aims to increase the company’s production capacity from its Aurora and Escondida mines, as well as to handle incoming material from formal small-scale miners.
Extraction from these resources will be processed either at the El Limon mill or the Soma El Bagri mill, where new ore sorting equipment is being developed.
The equipment has arrived in Colombia and is expected to be operational by mid-2026.
The company anticipates that the ore sorting technology will be fully commercialized in the latter half of this year.
When it becomes operational, the system is expected to increase production at the El Bagri mill from 450tpd to between 700 and 750tpd.
Soma CEO Geoff Hampson said: “We are delighted that, after many years of effort, we have completed the formalization process for the first small-scale mine on our property. We hope this will be the catalyst to start formalizing additional small-scale mines and accelerate the completion of the process for those already in the pipeline.”
“The formalization of small-scale mining has been a key part of our strategy for many years, and it is exciting to see the first one completed. It is an important part of how we increase production and capture the gold produced on our property.”
Soma Gold’s 2025 gold equivalent output was 18,670oz.
“Soma Gold Receives First Load from Diamantina Mine in Colombia” was originally developed and published by Mining Technologies, a brand owned by Global Data.
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