Aris Mining announced positive prefeasibility study results for the Toroparu gold project in Guyana on November 12. The study outlines planned production of 5.6 million ounces of gold over a 29 year processing period, including 21 years of mining, with production of 258,000 ounces a year in years 1 to 17.
Proven and probable reserves total 5.9 million ounces, comprising 5.1 million ounces at 1.18 grams a tonne above a 0.50 gram cut off and 0.9 million ounces at 0.40 grams a tonne below it. Reserves were estimated at a gold price of 1,950 dollars an ounce. The initial funding requirement is 1,005 million dollars, and the construction schedule is 32 months for a conventional truck and shovel open pit.
The cost has climbed against the previous study. The prefeasibility study’s construction capital of 1,017 million dollars plus 102 million dollars in contingency, a gross 1,119 million dollars before the funding offset, is about 36 percent above the 820 million dollars of initial construction capital in the October 2025 preliminary economic assessment, which was framed at a 3,000 dollar gold price against the prefeasibility study’s 3,600 dollar base case. The Northern Miner flagged the 36 percent increase in its November 13 coverage of the study. The plan has also lengthened, to a 29 year processing period including low grade stockpile treatment at the end of the mine life, and Aris has switched from the owner mining approach contemplated in the earlier assessment to contractor mining.
Toroparu is at prefeasibility stage, one step below a full feasibility study. The milestone that now governs the project is permitting: Aris applied for a large scale mining licence in August 2026 and targets a construction decision in early 2027, subject to that licence and other approvals. The NI 43-101 technical report, dated November 12, has been filed on SEDAR+ and with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.