Aris Mining Corporation (TSX: ARIS) (NYSE: ARIS) reported adjusted EBITDA of $179 million USD for the second quarter of 2026, as the Canadian gold producer’s two operating mines in Colombia generated the cash to fund $121 million USD in capital projects during the quarter while leaving the company with a cash balance of $426 million USD as of June 30.

“Aris Mining delivered another strong quarter with our operations generating the cash required to fund more than $120 million of capital investments during the second quarter while maintaining a strong balance sheet.” — Neil Woodyer, Chair & CEO, Aris Mining

The company produced 73,700 ounces of gold in the quarter, consistent with the 74,300 ounces produced in the first quarter, and booked gold revenue of $321 million USD at an average realized price of $4,450 USD per ounce. Adjusted net earnings came in at $96 million USD, or $0.47 USD per share. On a trailing 12-month basis, adjusted EBITDA now stands at $690 million USD, up from $610 million USD one quarter earlier.

First-half production of 148,000 ounces represents a 31% increase over the 113,400 ounces produced in the first half of 2025, as Finance Colombia reported earlier this month, and the company says it remains on track to meet its full-year guidance of 300,000 to 350,000 ounces, with output weighted toward the second half of the year.

“Aris Mining delivered another strong quarter with our operations generating the cash required to fund more than $120 million of capital investments during the second quarter while maintaining a strong balance sheet,” said Neil Woodyer, chair and CEO of Aris Mining.

Segovia Ramps Up Mining Capacity

The Segovia operations in Antioquia produced 64.4 thousand ounces during the quarter, bringing first-half output to 131.0 thousand ounces. The mill processed 202,500 tons at an average gold grade of 10.23 grams per ton, a 15% increase in throughput from the 175,400 tons at 12.41 grams per ton processed in the first quarter, as the operation works toward consistent utilization of the expanded 3,000 tons-per-day processing capacity installed in June 2025.

This graph shows the increasing realized gold price of Aris Mining’s Segovia operations versus its current cost per ounce. Photo provided by Aris Mining.

Total investment at Segovia rose to $31 million USD in the quarter from $17 million USD in the first quarter, funding new ramps and a main underground haulage circuit connecting the El Silencio, Providencia, and Sandra K mines, along with an expanded mining fleet acquired through purchase and leasing arrangements.

Owner-operated mining, which contributed 67% of mill feed, recorded an all-in sustaining cost of $1,767 USD per ounce sold, keeping the first-half figure of $1,623 USD per ounce below the company’s full-year guidance range of $1,700 to $1,800 USD. Material sourced from contract mining partners, which contributed the remaining 33% of mill feed, delivered an all-in sustaining cost sales margin of 46%, above the top end of the full-year guidance range of 35% to 40%. Segovia generated an all-in sustaining cost margin of $157 million USD in the quarter and $356 million USD in the first half.

Marmato on Schedule for First Gold in Q4 2026

The Marmato mine in Caldas produced 9.3 thousand ounces in the quarter, bringing first-half production to 17,100 ounces, with the mill processing 84,600 tons at an average grade of 3.79 grams per ton. Throughput is expected to increase materially once the new 5,000 tons-per-day carbon-in-pulp (CIP) plant is commissioned, with first gold expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The SAG and ball mills are on site and mechanical installation is underway, and the underground connection completed earlier this year established direct access between the Bulk Mining Zone and the new process plant area.

As of July 1, 2026, the estimated capital required to achieve first gold from the Marmato CIP plant is approximately $118 million USD. After a final $42 million USD installment expected from Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX: WPM) (NYSE: WPM) in the third quarter, the net funding requirement of approximately $76 million USD will come from the company’s cash balance and operating cash flow.

Aris Mining plans to exit 2026 operating the new plant at approximately 3,000 tons per day, ramping up to approximately 4,000 tons per day by mid-2027 and reaching the full 5,000 tons-per-day design capacity by the end of 2027, following commissioning of the paste backfill plant.

Soto Norte and Toroparu Advance the Growth Pipeline

At the Soto Norte project in Santander, environmental studies and preparation of the environmental license application are nearing completion. The project’s design incorporates a metallurgical process free of cyanide and mercury, and allocates approximately 750 tons per day of processing capacity — over 20% of the project’s planned 3,500 tons-per-day total — to local miners through the company’s contract mining partner program. A prefeasibility study completed in September 2025 outlined average annual gold production of 263,000 ounces in years two through 10, with an after-tax net present value of $2.7 billion USD at a 5% discount rate and a 35% internal rate of return at an assumed gold price of $2,600 USD per ounce.

The adjusted EBITDA by quarter of Aris Mining remains on track with the last two quarters, and larger than Q2 and Q3 of the operations in 2025. Photo provided by Aris Mining.

At the Toroparu project in Guyana, a prefeasibility study remains on schedule for completion in the second half of 2026, supporting a construction decision targeted for early 2027. Pre-construction activities are underway, including construction of the Puruni River bridge, camp expansion, and road improvements, and the project team has grown to 100 employees in the country. A preliminary economic assessment completed in October 2025 outlined average annual gold production of 235,000 ounces, an after-tax net present value of $1.8 billion USD at a 5% discount rate, and a 25% internal rate of return at an assumed gold price of $3,000 USD per ounce. The company continues engagement with the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission to obtain the project’s mining license.

Aris Mining’s Segovia and Marmato operations together produced approximately 257,000 ounces of gold in 2025. The company’s expansion projects at the two mines are expected to lift annual production to approximately 500,000 ounces, and its broader portfolio, including Soto Norte and Toroparu, supports a longer-term objective of approximately 1 million ounces of annual gold production.

Headline image description: Second mill at the Segovia Operations. Photo from CNW Group/Aris Mining Corporation.

Colombia’s economy expanded at an estimated annual pace of 2.7% in the second quarter of 2026, according to the latest reading of the Grupo Cibest NowCast Bancolombia indicator. The figure sits 20 basis points below the rolling quarter ending in May, which the group revised upward by 20 basis points to 2.9%. With the second-quarter estimate in hand, the economy is now judged to have grown 2.4% year-over-year in the first half of the year, a pace the analysts say confirms that activity remains below its potential.

“The economy is estimated to have grown 2.4% year-over-year in the first half, confirming that economic activity remains below its potential.” — Grupo Cibest, Economic, Industry and Market Research (July 2, 2026)

NowCast Bancolombia is a family of proprietary, high-frequency indicators built by Grupo Cibest — the financial holding group that owns Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB) and adopted its current name in May 2025 — from transactions across the group’s payment channels. The indices are designed to complement, not replace, the official statistics published by the Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE, the National Administrative Department of Statistics), whose figures are available through its website.

For the second quarter, the group revised its NowCast forecast upward by 10 basis points to 2.7%, bringing the projection into line with the market consensus average among analysts. The indicator rose from 2.6% at the end of May to 2.7% at the end of June, matching the 2.7% consensus.

Subdued Growth Across the Board

The monthly readings were more subdued. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the NowCast index contracted 1.2% from the prior month in June. In year-over-year terms against June 2025, growth eased to 1.9%, some 0.5 percentage points below the May reading of 2.4%. Measured as a three-month moving average, year-over-year growth held at 2.7%.

At the sector level, the second quarter showed a divergence between primary and secondary activities. Faster growth appeared in recreation, professional services, agriculture, and manufacturing. The public sector, real estate, communications, trade, and electricity utilities held steady growth rates. Construction activity continued to decelerate, while mining was the only sector to contract by the close of the quarter.

Grupo Cibest’s sector heat map, which tracks year-over-year change on a three-month moving-average basis, put entertainment as the standout in June at 9.7%, followed by financial services at 6.0%, and wholesale and retail trade at 4.0%. Manufacturing reached 3.7% and agriculture 3.5%, both near the top of their recent ranges. At the other end, construction slowed sharply to 0.6% after running above 3% for much of the past year, the information sector managed just 0.2%, and mining slipped to -0.5%.

The report was prepared by Grupo Cibest’s Economic, Industry and Market Research area, led on quantitative work by Arturo Yesid González Peña, the group’s Head of Quantitative & Analytics, with Sebastián Ospina Cuartas serving as data controller. It follows the group’s prior-month estimate, which had pointed to a second-quarter acceleration toward 2.6%.

Above: The construction industry’s growth continued to decelerate as Grupo Cibest reports a 2.7% economic growth for Colombia as a whole in the second quarter. Stock photo by Ncpancy via Pixabay.

The Colombian peso strengthened 115 pesos against the US dollar last week to close at $3,335.46 COP, a 3.35 percent weekly appreciation that Grupo Cibest’s economic research team attributed to a weaker US dollar globally and to a larger-than-expected interest-rate increase at home. In its July 6 weekly report, Radar Bancolombia, the research unit of Bancolombia argued that the currency now trades well below the level its fundamentals would justify.

The Junta Directiva del Banco de la República (the central bank’s board of directors) raised its benchmark policy rate by 75 basis points to 12.00 percent, its highest level since March 2024, surprising a market that had priced in a 50-basis-point move. Even so, the bank argued that a rate consistent with Colombia’s macroeconomic and fiscal conditions should push the exchange rate toward a range between $3,400 and $3,650 COP.

What is moving the peso?

To isolate the drivers of the currency, the research team estimated a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model that breaks the annual change in the market representative exchange rate (TRM) into international factors, local factors, exchange-rate dynamics and a speculative gap. The exercise found that during 2026 local factors have gained prominence and now explain close to half of the peso’s movements.

In June, Colombia’s sovereign risk premium corrected sharply, reflecting an improved perception of country risk tied to the coming change of administration. The nation’s five-year credit default swaps fell 69 basis points from the first round of the presidential vote — a 29 percent annual decline in June — and now sit about 24 basis points below the level the bank considers consistent with fair value. Among regional peers, Colombia’s policy rate is exceeded only by Brazil’s 14.25 percent, which the bank said keeps carry-trade strategies attractive.

The chart shows how the Colombian peso and the US dollar has detached from the fair value rate of the government. Chart by Finance Colombia.

Measured against where it should trade if it merely tracked its peer currencies and incorporated the deterioration in external fundamentals, the exchange rate should stand near $3,720 COP, Bancolombia estimated. The bank placed the currency’s fair value in a range between $3,710 and $3,880 COP, and noted that the United States economy has shown resilience, backed by technology investment, while inflationary pressures continue to limit the room for maneuver of the US Federal Reserve.

From September 2025, the observed rate detached significantly from that fair value. The bank linked the move first to monetization by the Ministerio de Hacienda (Finance Ministry) — foreign-currency sales of roughly $9 billion USD between September and December, against average daily spot volume of about $1,337 million USD in 2026 — and later to optimism over the change of administration. Those operations drew on a Total Return Swap, new euro-denominated bond issues and a direct placement to Pimco of $23 trillion COP, which raised about $5 billion USD. The gap against peer currencies turned negative after the first-round vote and has since averaged -$225 COP.

The bank described the pattern as a trade electoral — a repricing of Colombian assets in anticipation of a more market-friendly government — that held through much of the second half of 2025 and into 2026, interrupted only when polls showed a wider gap among the presidential candidates.

Bancolombia expects the peso to stay stronger than its fundamentals over the coming months, but not indefinitely. The bank projected the exchange rate in a range between $3,400 and $3,650 COP for the second half of 2026, converging gradually toward fair value in 2027. As long as the local interest-rate cycle keeps favoring long-peso carry positions and optimism persists, the bank said, the peso could reach the lower bound of that range.

“A persistent deviation looks unlikely, since over the long run the exchange rate has not structurally departed from the level observed in its peers.” — Grupo Cibest economic research, Radar Bancolombia

On the external side, the bank flagged persistent pressure toward depreciation from falling international oil prices and limited room for further US dollar weakness. Brent crude, which rose 5.8 percent year over year in the first quarter and 51.2 percent in the second amid the Middle East conflict, had already fallen 26 percent from a peak near $118 USD per barrel to around $72 USD. The bank cautioned that sustaining the currency’s current strength would depend on credible fiscal consolidation, given challenges related to inflation, the El Niño phenomenon, weak investment, the health system, security conditions and the lag in strategic sectors such as mining, energy and construction.

International backdrop

The US unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 4.2 percent in June, its lowest in a year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported, though the economy added just 57,000 jobs, below the 114,000 analysts expected. Hiring concentrated in professional services, up 36,000, social assistance, up 25,000, and health, up 22,000, while lodging shed 61,000. The labor participation rate fell 0.3 percentage point to 61.5 percent, its lowest since March 2021, as 720,000 people left the labor force.

Eurozone inflation eased 0.4 percentage point to 2.8 percent in June, a three-month low and below the 3.0 percent consensus, though still a fourth month above the European Central Bank’s 2 percent target. Core inflation fell to 2.4 percent. In China, the composite purchasing managers’ index rose to 50.6, above the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction, with manufacturing at 50.3 and non-manufacturing at 50.2, while construction stayed in contraction.

Colombia’s economy

The Banco de la República resumed its tightening cycle, lifting the policy rate to its highest level since March 2024. Bancolombia expects a further 75-basis-point increase, to 12.75 percent, as inflation expectations drift higher. Consumer inflation was set to rise for a fourth straight month in June, to about 6.13 percent annually and its highest reading since July 2024, on the bank’s estimate of a 0.38 percent monthly gain; analysts polled by the central bank had expected 0.32 percent. Analysts see inflation ending 2026 near 6.52 percent, against the bank’s own 6.4 percent scenario.

Colombia’s national unemployment rate stood at 8.0 percent in May, down 1.04 percentage points from a year earlier and a record low for the month, according to the national statistics department (DANE). Informality was 54.2 percent, and the bank maintained its 9.0 percent urban unemployment projection for 2026. Business sentiment moved the other way: Fedesarrollo’s commercial confidence index fell to 20.5 points and its industrial confidence index to -2.9 points in May, which the bank tied to uncertainty around the presidential election.

Goods exports likely extended double-digit growth in May, to an estimated $5.46 billion USD FOB, up 25 percent year over year, led by non-traditional products — non-monetary gold, copper ores and flowers — and by oil sales at an average price near $107 USD. The bank noted a 37 percent accumulated drop in the first quarter and expected exports to stabilize following the normalization of the tariff dispute with Ecuador.

Fixed income and yields

The US Treasury curve steepened bearishly, with short-dated yields up about 8 basis points and long-dated yields up about 11, after Iran’s foreign minister said no direct US-Iran meetings were scheduled and after US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh, speaking at the European Central Bank’s Sintra forum, reiterated the central bank’s commitment to its 2 percent inflation target. Citi’s economic surprise index held in positive territory for a sixth consecutive month at 57.8. Advanced-economy 10-year yields were mixed over the month, with Japan up 10 basis points and France up 3, against declines of 12 in Germany and the eurozone and 11 in the United Kingdom.

Colombia’s fixed-rate TES curve rallied, with yields down 22 basis points at the short end, 23 in the middle and 9 at the long end, supported by calmer Middle East conditions, the fall in the country’s five-year CDS to levels last seen in 2021, and announcements from the incoming government — among them, the report said, the naming of Miguel Gómez as finance minister. The cash balance of the Dirección del Tesoro Nacional (National Treasury) rose to an average of $20.7 trillion COP in June, up $5.6 trillion from May, or 1.16 percent of GDP. Tax collection grew 7.4 percent year over year in May, to $35.1 trillion COP, led by income tax at $15.3 trillion COP and internal value-added tax at $11.8 trillion COP, according to the tax authority (DIAN).

Commodities and equities

Gold rose to about $4,112 USD per ounce after the US jobs report, while Brent crude closed at $71.94 USD per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $68.69 USD, little changed on the week as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz recovered and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries prepared to announce a production increase at its July 5 meeting.

The COLCAP index closed the week up 0.4 percent at 2,295.7 points. The biggest gainers were Cementos Argos (BVC: CEMARGOS, PFCEMARGOS), up 3.5 and 3.1 percent, and Grupo Cibest (NYSE: CIB; BVC: CIBEST), up 3.1 percent, while Davivienda (BVC: PFDAVVNDA), the PEI real estate vehicle and Grupo Nutresa (BVC: NUTRESA) led the declines. Grupo Nutresa launched a share-repurchase offer for up to 3,333,333 shares at $300,000 COP each, with an acceptance deadline of July 3. Davivienda placed $270.1 billion COP in the sixth tranche of its twelfth ordinary bond issuance, drawing offers of $343.99 billion COP.

The figure shows the change in the Colombian peso and how local and international factors seem to be affecting it in a negative direction. Chart created by Finance Colombia.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 1.8 percent, the Dow Jones 2.0 percent and the Nasdaq 2.1 percent, their best quarter in six years, led by semiconductor and artificial-intelligence infrastructure shares even as investors questioned the sustainability of those valuations. Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) lifted deliveries 25 percent year over year in the second quarter, and Lime (NASDAQ: LIME), the shared electric-bike and scooter operator, debuted on the Nasdaq with a $167 million USD raise and a valuation near $1.6 billion USD.

European indices advanced, with the Stoxx 600 up 2.7 percent, the DAX 4.5 percent, the CAC 40 1.5 percent, the FTSE 100 1.6 percent and the IBEX 35 2.2 percent, led by defense shares and with Siemens (XETRA: SIE) contributing to the DAX. KNDS postponed a planned Frankfurt and Paris listing, while Renk (XETRA: R3NK) agreed to acquire Britain’s David Brown Defence for about $200 million USD. In Asia, the Hang Seng rose 3.0 percent, the Nikkei 225 0.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite 0.4 percent; China Resources New Energy staged Asia’s largest listing so far in 2026, raising about $3,600 million USD in Shenzhen.

The full report, Fortaleza del peso colombiano bajo la lupa: entre el optimismo y sus fundamentales, was published by Grupo Cibest’s Dirección de Investigaciones Económicas, Sectoriales y de Mercado, led by Laura Clavijo.

Headline image description: The chart shows how the Colombian peso has depreciated significantly in comparison to other similar currencies in the market by a margin of 500 points. Chart created by Finance Colombia.

Denarius Metals Corp. (Cboe CA: DMET) (OTCQX: DNRSF) has reported the first assay results from its 2026 surface in-fill diamond drilling program at the Las Brisas target on its wholly owned Zancudo gold-silver project in Colombia, located in the Cauca Belt about 30 kilometers southwest of Medellin.

The results cover the final assays for the first four drill holes, totaling roughly 660 meters, completed from the first purpose-built surface drill platform. The holes confirmed the high-grade gold and silver mineralization previously modeled on the Manto Antiguo and Santa Catalina structures.

Highlight intercepts included 7.43 grams per ton (g/t) gold and 15 g/t silver over 1.20 meters from 93.8 to 95.0 meters in hole ZM-195 on the Santa Catalina structure, including 28.70 g/t gold and 38 g/t silver over 0.30 meters. Hole ZM-197, on the Manto Antiguo structure, returned 8.36 g/t gold and 1,670 g/t silver over 1.0 meter from 160.3 to 161.3 meters, including 27.83 g/t gold and 5,564 g/t silver over 0.30 meters.

Key Drilling Results at Las Brisas

Notes: Intervals are core lengths; true widths are estimated at 80% to 90% of the reported lengths. Gold-equivalent (AuEq) grades were calculated using prices of $3,200 USD per ounce of gold and $40.00 USD per ounce of silver. “Unknown” denotes a new structure that does not correlate with any known structure or vein. Hole MT-196 returned no results above the 4 g/t AuEq cut-off, and hole MT-198 was aborted at shallow depth due to excessive deviation.

The Las Brisas target is an unexploited block within the Manto Antiguo structure that was preserved by past mining. The in-fill program is designed on 50-by-50-meter drill centers from eight platforms (IF-5 to IF-12) to better delineate and confirm the consistency of two ore shoots outlined by earlier drilling on the Manto Antiguo and Santa Catalina structures. The Manto Antiguo ore shoot, controlled by the intersection of the two structures, typically shows wider and higher-grade intercepts.

“This early progress at the Las Brisas Target reinforces our confidence in the continuity and quality of the known ore deposits at Zancudo.” – Serafino Iacono, Executive Chairman, Denarius Metals

Drilling at Las Brisas began in late April 2026 with a single rig and comprises about 6,000 meters across 29 diamond drill holes. The reported results cover the first four holes, about 660 meters, drilled from the first platform (IF-7). All holes completed to date on Manto Antiguo, totaling about 560 meters, intersected the structure at the estimated depth, with a maximum grade of 27.83 g/t gold and 5,564 g/t silver over 0.30 meters in ZM-197. On Santa Catalina, holes totaling about 660 meters intersected the structure at depth, with a maximum grade of 28.70 g/t gold and 38 g/t silver over 0.30 meters in ZM-195.

“This early progress at the Las Brisas Target reinforces our confidence in the continuity and quality of the known ore deposits at Zancudo,” said Serafino Iacono, executive chairman of Denarius Metals. “The 2026 in-fill drilling program has been designed taking into account the successful results achieved in our 2024 in-fill drilling campaign and underscores the potential and prospectivity of delineating new zones and expanding existing ones near planned mining infrastructures. We look forward to providing further updates through the course of this year’s drilling campaign.”

Structures and Geology

The Manto Antiguo structure, historically the main structure mined, is interpreted as a west-northwest to east-southeast trending brecciated manto that merges into the footwall of the Santa Catalina structure. 

The northerly-trending Santa Catalina structure, which dips steeply to the east near surface and gently at depth, is interpreted as a mineralized master fault and the feeder of mineralization for the entire vein system. The typically narrow Manto Antiguo structure shows a breccia texture with incipient quartz-sulphide banding and milled wall-rock clasts, with mineralization consisting of pyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, and galena.

2026 Program and Processing Plant

The 2026 drill program totals a planned 15,000 meters across several targets within the Zancudo project, including Las Brisas, El Castano, the Independencia mine, and brownfield areas. The company said the program is intended to provide data for resource modeling, mine planning, and stope design as it ramps up mining at Zancudo in 2026 and 2027 to feed the project’s new 1,000-ton-per-day flotation processing plant, which is under construction and expected to be operating later this year.

The resource evaluation work was completed by Scott E. Wilson, CPG, president of Resource Development Associates and an independent qualified person under Canada’s NI 43-101, who inspected the Zancudo project on June 2-3, 2026. Core samples were prepared and assayed for gold by Actlabs at its laboratory in the Rionegro free-trade zone in Antioquia, Colombia, with multi-element analysis completed at its laboratory in Ancaster, Ontario.

Denarius Metals is a Canadian junior mining company focused on precious metals and polymetallic projects in Colombia and Spain, and trades on Cboe Canada as “DMET” and on the OTCQX Market in the United States as “DNRSF.” 

At Zancudo, its 100%-owned high-grade gold-silver deposit that includes the historic Independencia mine, the company is producing in an early-production phase while completing the processing plant, which it expects to begin producing high-grade gold-silver concentrates in the third quarter of 2026. 

In Spain, Denarius holds a 21.8% interest in and operates the Aguablanca nickel-copper project, recognized by the European Union as a Strategic Project, and owns 100% of the Lomero polymetallic project and the Toral zinc-lead-silver project.

Headline image description: The diagram showcases the target location of Denarius Metals in their Las Brisas mine site, and what they projected to have discovered there. Photo provided by Denarius Metals.

Copper Giant Resources Corp. (TSXV: CGNT | OTCQB: LBCMF | FRA: 29H0) has released assay results from two drill holes at its Mocoa copper-molybdenum porphyry project in Putumayo, Colombia, extending mineralization below the current conceptual pit and confirming a third mineralized breccia corridor at the deposit.

Deep infill hole MD-064 intersected 1,052 meters of continuous mineralization from 155 meters downhole, including 486 meters grading 0.57% copper equivalent (CuEq) — 0.41% Cu and 0.029% Mo — which exceeds the deposit’s current mineral resource estimate (MRE) average of 0.51% CuEq. A higher-grade core of 115 meters returned 0.65% CuEq (0.34% Cu and 0.058% Mo) from 552 meters. The final 180 meters of the hole intersected the western breccia, returning 0.44% CuEq (0.36% Cu and 0.015% Mo), including 72 meters of 0.55% CuEq (0.51% Cu and 0.008% Mo).

Cross-section along hole MD-063 (section width of 100 meters), showing the 2026 MRE block model and the Cu and Mo grades intercepted. Results to date continue to demonstrate Cu and Mo mineralization below the current conceptual pit design and within areas previously modeled as waste, supporting the potential for resource expansion along the southern margin of the system toward the La Estrella corridor. Kick-off (KO) points for directional daughter holes are indicated. (CNW Group/Copper Giant Resources Corp.)

Further Expansion of Directional Drilling

The western breccia intersection provides the first modern drill confirmation of a corridor identified only historically, establishing Mocoa as a system with three drill-tested mineralized breccia corridors — western, central, and eastern — consistent with a large, multi-phase porphyry deposit with multiple mineralized centers.

Representative core photographs from MD-063 (Figures 2A–C) and MD-064 (Figures 2D–F) illustrating porphyry-style mineralization, hydrothermal alteration, and vein-hosted copper and molybdenum mineralization. (CNW Group/Copper Giant Resources Corp.)

Directional daughter hole MD-063, drilled from the platform of mother hole MD-056, targeted the southern expansion of the deposit below the current conceptual pit. It returned 808 meters of continuous mineralization from its kick-off point, including 303 meters grading 0.41% CuEq (0.25% Cu and 0.031% Mo) from 541 meters downhole — ground the company had previously modeled as waste. The result extends known mineralization at depth and to the south toward the La Estrella target area, where Copper Giant’s third drill rig is currently conducting maiden drilling from the other direction.

“We are increasing confidence in what we have and adding to what is still to come, exactly what we want heading into the PEA.” -Edwin Naranjo Sierra, Vice President of Exploration

Copper Giant uses directional drilling to test multiple targets from a single pad without constructing new roads or platforms in Mocoa’s steep terrain, which reduces surface disturbance and cost per meter of geological information. MD-063 follows a series of holes — MD-054, MD-056, MD-058, and MD-061 — that have progressively identified stronger mineralization along the southern margin of the current MRE footprint. The area was historically tested only by shallow and sub-vertical drilling.

Plan view of the Mocoa porphyry Cu-Mo deposit and surrounding exploration targets. Black dots represent drill pads. The location of historical hole M14, where the western breccia was first recognized, is also shown. (CNW Group/Copper Giant Resources Corp.)

“These two holes do something more valuable than chasing a high number. MD-064 confirms the continuity and grade of the deposit across more than a kilometre of core, which leads us to believe the resource model we will build the PEA on is sound. MD-063 shows the system continuing below the current pit, in ground we had modelled as waste, and the first modern confirmation of the western breccia tells us Mocoa is a larger, multi-center system than the current resource captures. We are increasing confidence in what we have and adding to what is still to come, exactly what we want heading into the PEA,” said Edwin Naranjo Sierra, Vice-President of Exploration.

More Testing Planned for the Future

The Mocoa project hosts a 1.12-billion-tonne Inferred resource containing 12.7 billion pounds of CuEq — 7.7 billion pounds of copper at 0.31% Cu and 1.0 billion pounds of molybdenum at 0.039% Mo — with an effective date of November 18, 2025. Upcoming catalysts include an updated MRE, a second stage of metallurgical testing, the planned preliminary economic assessment (PEA), and assay results from the La Estrella maiden drilling program. Earlier metallurgical tests at Mocoa returned copper recoveries of up to 92.3% and molybdenum recoveries of up to 97.4%, exceeding the recovery assumptions used in the current resource model.

Drilling is advancing toward the emerging Mocoa–La Estrella corridor from both directions, while MD-064 validates higher-grade domains within the MRE footprint. Plan view of holes MD-063 and MD-064 and the location of the cross-sections shown in Figures 3 and 5. MD-063 extends mineralization southward from Mocoa while the company’s third drill rig advances northwest from La Estrella. Kick-off (KO) points for directional daughter holes are shown, illustrating the use of a single drill platform to test multiple targets. (CNW Group/Copper Giant Resources Corp.)

The Mocoa project is located approximately 10 kilometers from the town of Mocoa in southern Colombia’s Department of Putumayo. Copper Giant controls more than 128,300 hectares of district-scale tenure through granted titles and applications across a portion of the Jurassic porphyry belt in the northern Andes. The deposit was first identified in 1973 through a regional geochemical survey conducted by the United Nations and the Colombian government, with follow-up drilling by B2Gold (NYSE American: BTG; TSX: BTO) in 2008 and 2012. In 2025, Copper Giant finalized a prior consultation agreement with the Inga Condagua Indigenous Nation, a prerequisite for advancing exploration permitting.

Edwin Naranjo Sierra, VP of Exploration, is the NI 43-101 Qualified Person who reviewed and approved the technical disclosure. Assay samples were prepared at the ActLabs certified facility in Medellín and analyzed for a full multi-element suite at ActLabs’ certified laboratory in Guadalajara, Mexico. Copper equivalent values are calculated using copper at $4.00 USD/lb and molybdenum at $20.00 USD/lb, with metallurgical recoveries of 90% for copper and 95% for molybdenum.

Headline image description: Plan view of the Mocoa porphyry Cu-Mo deposit and surrounding exploration targets. Black dots represent drill pads. The location of historical hole M14, where the western breccia was first recognized, is also shown. Photo provided by CNW Group/Copper Giant Resources Corp.

Colombia’s unemployment rate has held in single digits on a rolling-quarter basis since March 2025, but a closer look at the data shows the improvement rests on weaker foundations than the headline figure implies, according to the latest Radar Bancolombia weekly report, published June 16 by Grupo Cibest, the research arm of Bancolombia (NYSE: CIB, BVC: BCOLOMBIA).

The report’s authors argue that the jobs Colombia is adding are increasingly vulnerable, more dependent on public spending, and of lower quality — limitations the unemployment rate alone does not capture.

The inactivity behind the falling jobless rate

The unemployment rate counts only people actively looking for work, so those who stop searching — the inactive — drop out of the measure even though they still weigh on the market.

“The employment being generated is increasingly vulnerable, more dependent on public spending, and of lower quality.” — Radar Bancolombia, June 16, 2026, Grupo Cibest

Using the metaphor of an iceberg, Grupo Cibest describes unemployment, near 8.7% on a moving-year average to April 2026, as the visible portion. Meanwhile, inactivity, sits below the surface, exceeding 35% of the working-age population according to the report. Between January 2020 and February 2026, the ratio of inactive to unemployed people rose from 4 to 5 for every unemployed person, suggesting the drop in unemployment reflects not only more opportunity but also people leaving the labor force.

Formal jobs, fragile foundations

Formal employment has been rising, but the report flags long-term weaknesses. The Bancolombia Formality Index, part of a new set of employment-vulnerability indicators, closed March 2026 at 72.7 points, above its 2022–2025 average and well above the 50.5 points recorded in March 2025.

Formality and coverage of health and pension contributors both increased through 2026, which appears positive at first glance. Much of that covered employment, however, does not stem from a genuine private-sector recovery. The report’s hypothesis is that the minimum-wage increase at the start of the year raised the cost of formalizing jobs, discouraging formal hiring at the moment the economy most needed it.

Quality is the bigger worry

The Bancolombia Employment Quality Index — which weighs formal workers’ income relative to the minimum wage, the mix of dependent and independent workers, and the share of non-vulnerable formal jobs — stood at 20 points in March 2026, below the prior year and marking a change in trend from the preceding three years. The deterioration reflects a lower income relative to the minimum wage in 2026 compared with the 2022–2025 average, a narrowing gap between dependent and independent workers that points to more independent and vulnerable formal employment, and a rising share of independents within total formal workers.

The report concludes that Colombia needs sustained formalization that does not rely on public spending as the main engine of job creation, nor on minimum-wage adjustments as the main tool of labor policy. The underlying figures draw on the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística, DANE) and its Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (Great Integrated Household Survey, GEIH), with calculations by Grupo Cibest.

Other highlights of the Report

On the domestic economy, the report noted that the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index from the think tank Fedesarrollo eased in May from a high April reading, and estimated that Colombia’s economy grew at a solid pace in April, with commerce expanding at double digits, manufacturing recovering gradually, and consumer confidence likely remaining in double digits in May.

In local markets, the fixed-rate TES curve — Colombia’s peso-denominated government bonds — gained 34 basis points on average the prior week, and the report cited a projected fiscal deficit of 5.3% of GDP under the 2026 Marco Fiscal de Mediano Plazo (Medium-Term Fiscal Framework). Pension fund managers and commercial banks led May purchases of class B TES in the secondary market. The Colombian peso appreciated in line with global and regional trends, while crude prices fell on the prospect of a US–Iran agreement and OPEC approved a fourth consecutive output increase for July.

Stock photo by Kevin Seibel via Pixabay.

The Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences at Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios (UNIMINUTO) Antioquia-Chocó has earned international accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), one of the world’s principal accreditors of business and management education.

Founded in the United States in 1988, ACBSP accredits business programs in more than 60 countries and counts over 1,200 affiliated institutions worldwide. The accreditation that UNIMINUTO received is valid for 10 years and covers the faculty’s Business Administration and International Marketing Technology programs at UNIMINUTO’s campus in Bello, Antioquia. 

“This accreditation reflects the commitment and transformative presence of this great educational project in the country’s regions. Today we celebrate and recognize the diligent, determined, and committed work of our entire educational community — an effort that allows the academic quality of UNIMINUTO to now have international recognition,” said John Anderson Virviescas, dean of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences.

During the evaluation, ACBSP highlighted the faculty’s social impact — particularly its work with students from lower-middle socioeconomic strata and the improvement of students’ and graduates’ family and professional environments. The accreditor also cited the faculty’s community-service and volunteer practices, the participation of professors, students, graduates, and employers in its institutional development plan, its university-wellbeing policy, ongoing curriculum updates, student support through the MAIE program, and its faculty-development plans.

Benefits for students, graduates, and faculty

According to the faculty, the accreditation gives students access to internationally validated training aligned with global quality standards and measurable learning outcomes, along with opportunities to take part in international academic experiences such as business-simulation tournaments, internationalization projects, mirror classes, and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). For graduates, it strengthens their professional profile and competitiveness in domestic and international labor markets. For faculty, it opens access to professional-development plans, academic mobility, and international research networks.

The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs shows the community-focused education of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences at Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios. Photo provided by UNIMINUTO Press Office.

A five-year process

The path to accreditation began in 2020 with eligibility, self-assessment, and continuous-improvement stages. In October 2021, the faculty received official approval to move into the self-study phase, an integral review of its academic, administrative, and strategic processes. Following site visits and technical reviews by international peers, the institution consolidated its strengths and reduced the improvement opportunities identified during the evaluation.

“This accreditation reflects the commitment and transformative presence of this great educational project in the country’s regions.” — John Anderson Virviescas, dean of UNIMINUTO’s Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences

Faculty profile

The faculty has trained 9,206 students through a program model built around social, business, and global challenges. Its Business Administration and International Marketing Technology programs currently enroll 4,546 active students and count 4,660 graduates.

The faculty employs 44 professors, six of whom hold doctorates in related fields, and 70% hold C1 English certification. Its internationalization efforts include 19 visiting international professors and academic mobility for eight professors at higher-education institutions abroad. In 2025, professor Natalia Marulanda was named “Breakthrough Professor” (Docente Revelación) by the Colombian Association of Business Administration Faculties (ASCOLFA).

UNIMINUTO’s newly-accredited faculty has two research groups recognized by Colombia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MinCiencias): the Research Group in Economic and Administrative Sciences, ranked in category A, and the Research Group in Innovation and Social Management, in category B.

They are joined by four research seedbeds with more than 70 students and a team of three senior researchers, six associates, and two junior researchers. Students can also take electives in fields such as data science, artificial intelligence, big data, business intelligence, data mining, and Power BI, along with classroom-based consulting methodologies that connect coursework directly with the productive sector.

The ACBSP accreditation adds to UNIMINUTO’s presence across Colombia’s regions and positions its two Bello-based programs within a global network of accredited business education.

Headline Image provided by UNIMINUTO Press Office.

Colombia’s financial system handled 6,078 million operations in the first quarter of 2026, according to the latest operations report from the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (Financial Superintendency of Colombia), the country’s banking and securities regulator.

Credit institutions and specialized electronic deposit and payment companies, known by their Spanish acronym SEDPE, accounted for those 6,078 million operations. Of that total, 3,568 million were monetary operations worth $3,153 trillion COP, and 2,509 million were non-monetary, such as balance inquiries.

“84.6% of all operations were carried out through non-presential channels, accounting for 69.9% of the value transacted.” — Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia, first-quarter 2026 operations report

Separately, low-value payment system administrators, or EASPBV, together with the Banco de la República (Colombia’s central bank), processed 963 million monetary operations worth $1,081 trillion COP.

The Financial Superintendency of Colombia estimated that 66% of monetary interactions came from mobile applications. Stock photo by Kevin Schneider via Pixabay.

Non-presential channels — those that do not require a visit to a branch or physical point — continued to account for the bulk of activity, handling 84.6% of all operations and 69.9% of the value transacted. The remaining 15.4% of operations went through in-person channels. For the quarter, internet and bank offices were the channels through which the largest amounts of money moved.

Among in-person channels, the largest share of operations was concentrated in three departments: Bogotá at 33%, Antioquia at 25%, and Valle del Cauca at 13%.

For monetary operations, mobile applications were the most-used channel at 66%, followed by point-of-sale terminals at 13%. For non-monetary operations, mobile applications accounted for 81% and internet for 16%, while interactive voice response systems, virtual assistants, and telephone call centers were the least used.

Measured by the volume of payments tied to economic activity, professional, scientific, and technical activities led with 27% of the total. They were followed by wholesale and retail trade, including motor vehicle and motorcycle repair, at 19%; financial and insurance activities at 12%; information and communications at 11%; and electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply at 10%.

Headline image: Stock photo by Rupixen via Pixabay.

Colombia continued to diversify its export base in the first quarter of 2026, with nearly two of every three dollars earned from foreign sales now coming from non-mining and non-energy goods and services.

Services exports reached $5.34 billion USD between January and March, up 11.3% from $4.8 billion USD in the same period of 2025, according to balance-of-payments data from the Banco de la República (Colombia’s central bank) analyzed by the Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo (Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism).

“Colombia is building a more complex international integration, with greater added value and less concentration in the mining and energy sectors.” — Diana Marcela Morales Rojas, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism

Combined with $6.48 billion USD in non-mining, non-energy goods exports, the country’s non-mining export basket totaled $11.82 billion USD. That represented 61.7% of Colombia’s total exports for the quarter, above the 55.8% target set for 2026.

“We are advancing a productive transformation aimed at broadening and adding sophistication to the country’s exportable supply, strengthening business and regional capacities, and diversifying the sources of foreign-exchange generation,” said Diana Marcela Morales Rojas, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. “The results show that Colombia is building a more complex international integration, with greater added value and less concentration in the mining and energy sectors.”

Tourism has driven the 11.3% increase in Colombian service exports this year. Stock photo by Norbert via Pixabay.

Tourism powers services exports

The increase was driven mainly by tourism-related activity, particularly travel and transport, which together accounted for 67% of services exports between January and March. Within transport, passenger transport was the main driver of the growth.

Travel, which made up 50.1% of the services export portfolio, generated $2.68 billion USD in the quarter, a 9.5% increase over the first quarter of 2025. Transport accounted for 16.8% of services exports, reaching $898 million USD, up 11% year over year.

The third-largest category was other business services, at 16.4% of services exports. The segment, which covers trade-related technical services along with consulting and business support, exported $874.7 million USD in the quarter, up 11.7% from a year earlier.

Headline image:Stock photo by Rudy and Peter Skitterians via Pixabay.

NOVVA Group, a Singapore-based clean energy infrastructure platform, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a Colombian solar portfolio from ABO Energy, the German renewables developer announced June 22.

The portfolio comprises three advanced-stage solar projects with a combined installed capacity of 37.8 MWac, located in the Andean highlands of central Colombia. The projects have secured grid connection approvals and long-term land lease agreements; commercial operation is targeted for early 2028.

The NOVVA deal by ABO Energy showcases the Singaporean company’s expansion strategy. Stock photo by Solar Energy/solarpanal355 via Pixabay.

A ‘Milestone’ in Energy Expansion

NOVVA describes the acquisition as a milestone in its Latin American expansion, citing Colombia’s accelerating demand for clean power driven by digital transformation and industrial modernization. The government’s 2024–2031 National AI Roadmap targets AI adoption across 50% of enterprises and public-sector institutions, the company said.

“Colombia is exactly the kind of market Novva is built to serve. By combining specialized financing with global delivery expertise, we are accelerating the local energy transition and laying the green power foundation that tomorrow’s digital economy and high-growth industries will rely on,” said Steven Liu, Founder and CEO of NOVVA Group.

Ingo Burdack-Debes, General Manager at ABO Energy, said the transaction advances high-quality assets with a partner capable of executing on financing and construction. “Their financing and execution capabilities make them an ideal partner to take the projects forward, driving local growth and accelerating Colombia’s clean energy transition,” he said.

NOVVA Expands Into Multiple Markets

The Colombian deal follows NOVVA’s recent acquisition of a 120 MWp solar project in the Philippines, expanding its footprint across emerging markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America. NOVVA Group Pte. Ltd. originates, finances, builds, and operates clean energy assets across both regions.

ABO Energy is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, and develops wind, solar, storage, and hydrogen projects globally, managing the full project lifecycle from site assessment through long-term operations.

Headline image stock photo by Sebastian Ganso via Pixabay.