Soma Gold Corp (TSX-V:SOMA) has signed an agreement to acquire the La Escondida Mine in Antioquia, Colombia, subject to final legal due diligence.
The La Escondida Gold Mine, covering 1,051 hectares, is a small-scale operation with a full set of permits. The mine is located within trucking distance to the company’s El Limón Mine.
As part of the deal, Soma Gold will pay US$3 million ($4.61 million) in four tranches, with the first US$1 million to be paid upon closing the transaction.
Soma will also pay a 0.5% net smelter royalty (NSR) on all gold produced from the site. The NSR can be purchased at any time for a one-time payment of US$750,000.
CEO Geoff Hampson says acquiring Escondida aligns with the company’s strategy to grow production from its operations in Antioquia.
“Some will invest in operational improvements to quickly increase production at Escondida to 40-50 tonnes per day,” Hampson says.
“The ore will be trucked to the El Limón Mill for processing. The average grade at Escondida is higher than the grades of ore from the Cordero and Aurora mines, which are currently being stockpiled at El Limón.”
Hampson adds that Escondida ore will increase the average head grade at the mill. Preliminary geological work on the vein structure indicates the potential to grow Soma’s resource.
The company says regional, coarse-scale geophysics suggest that the vein-hosting structures extend on the property to the northeast and southwest. Additional quartz veins are known from illegal surface mining, however the tenement has never been systematically explored.
Soma Gold plans to conduct geological mapping, prospecting, and soil sampling to evaluate the entire project area for additional gold mineralisation.
A drilling program is also planned for Q3 2025 to test the indicated 800m of strike, the vein extension at depth, and an additional vein on the project.
“It is anticipated that these results will support the inclusion of additional resources in the NI 43-101 Technical Report update scheduled for early 2026,” Hampson says.
Colombia’s mining sector is considered a significant part of its economy, contributing over 2% to the gross domestic production, with a focus on coal, gold, nickel, and emeralds, as reported by Dentons.
According to CEIC data, Colombia’s gold production totalled 60,000kg as of December 2024. CEIC curates economic, industry, and financial data for economists and investment professionals to track and gain genuine insight into what is happening in their markets – with a particular focus on emerging economies.
Soma Gold Corp is a gold-focused producer and explorer that owns over 43km2 of mineral concessions and two fully permitted mills located within 25km of each other, with a combined mining capacity of 675 tonnes per day.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Soma Gold Corp
