Serabi Gold cut its annual production outlook by about 17 percent after permit delays blocked a planned increase in gold output from its Coringa mine in Brazil. The company now expects production near last year’s 44,169 ounces, down from previous guidance above 53,000 ounces. Shares fell 13 percent to 3.70 dollars in Toronto, giving the company a market capitalisation of 282.3 million dollars.
The constraint is a transport ceiling. Coringa’s trial mining licence allows Serabi to move up to 100,000 tonnes of ore a year to the Palito plant, and the company had shipped 85,602 tonnes against that allowance by September 30. Without a higher limit or an operating licence, it cannot send additional stockpiled and newly mined ore. The trial licence expires on January 29.
The path to the operating licence runs through land use approvals from Brazil’s land reform agency and approval of an Indigenous impact study by Funai, the federal Indigenous affairs agency. Both Indigenous groups involved have approved the study, but Funai’s final approval remains outstanding. Para’s environmental agency agreed in September that Coringa could bypass the installation licence stage and apply directly for an operating licence once the outstanding approvals are secured.
The capacity is waiting. Serabi has lifted Palito’s processing capacity from 650 tonnes a day to more than 900, with a fourth ball mill in final commissioning, and uses crushing and ore sorting at Coringa to remove waste before trucking. Group gold production fell 9 percent year on year to 11,008 ounces in the third quarter on lower grades at Palito, while Coringa contributed 8,101 ounces, up 18 percent. Jurisdiction watch: contrast Chile and Canada in this edition, where governments are funding access and lithium tenders, with Brazil, where a single federal approval holds a permitted mine below its built capacity.