Vancouver-based Soma Gold Corp. (TSXV: SOMA) (WKN: A2P4DU) (OTC: SMAGF) has confirmed that the first shipment of mineralized material from the formalized Diamantina mine has been received at the El Limon mill in Zaragoza, Antioquia. This delivery follows a formalization process that lasted more than five years under Colombian law. The contractual agreement allows the company to purchase material from small-scale miners in exchange for a percentage of the gold contained in each shipment.

The Diamantina mine is currently permitted to produce up to 40 MT per day. The company intends to reach this production rate by mid-year, while 1,700 MT of existing stockpiled material is being moved to the mill for processing. This site is the first of 24 small mines on the 43,000-hectare property currently in various stages of the formalization process. These 24 mines represent a portion of the approximately 60 small-scale operations located on the company’s concessions. Management expects additional mines to complete the process and begin supplying the El Limon facility later in 2026.

“Formalization of small miners has been a key part of our strategy for many years, and it is gratifying to see the first one complete.” — Geoff Hampson, CEO of Soma Gold Corp.

To support the increased volume from both company-owned assets like the Aurora and Escondida mines and third-party formalized miners, the El Limon mill was restarted in the third quarter of 2025. Material may also be processed at the El Bagre mill, where new ore-sorting equipment is being installed. This equipment arrived in Colombia recently and is expected to be operational by the second half of 2026. Once commercialized, the ore-sorting system is projected to increase the throughput at El Bagre from 450 TPD to a range between 700 and 750 TPD.

Development at the Nechi mine is also progressing, with the Programa de Trabajos y Obras (PTO) application expected to be submitted in April 2026. If approved by the end of the year, the Nechi mine is projected to provide an additional 250 TPD to the El Bagre facility, potentially adding approximately 25,000 AuEq ounces to annual production.

Total gold equivalent production for 2025 was 18,670 ounces. This figure was below previous projections, which the company attributed to a two-month work stoppage and subsequent difficulties in hiring qualified personnel and addressing mechanical issues during the restart phase. In a separate corporate development, the board of directors approved the grant of 1,118,334 stock options at an exercise price of $2.06 CAD per share, along with 159,910 restricted share units and 76,756 deferred share units to directors and employees.

Soma Gold Corp. operates mineral concessions along the Otu fault in Antioquia, maintaining two mills within 25 kilometers of each other with a combined capacity of 675 TPD. The company also maintains an exploration property near Tucuma, Para, Brazil, which is under option to Ero Copper Corp. (TSX: ERO) (NYSE: ERO).

Unauthorized mining operations by unidentified parties on EPM-owned properties within Anorí and Amalfi municipalities have been identified. These activities pose risks to downstream populations along the Porce III discharge area and the Nechí River.

The illicit mining has led to slope instability and compromised the Porce III plant’s infrastructure. Alterations in the Porce River’s dynamics have increased the likelihood of landslides and flash floods, potentially affecting several communities.

Monitoring indicates that these mining activities are also threatening the stability of the Porce III facilities, thereby jeopardizing the nation’s energy security. EPM has initiated legal proceedings against those responsible for the unauthorized mining to safeguard nearby communities and protect the plant’s infrastructure. Contingency measures are being implemented to mitigate identified risks.

To address these critical risks, immediate actions will commence, including the removal of an illegally constructed embankment in the riverbed. This removal may temporarily increase downstream water flow in the Porce River as the river’s hydraulic section is restored. Communities are advised to stay informed through established communication channels—phone calls, WhatsApp groups, and community leaders—for timely updates and safety instructions.

Porce III Hydroelectric Dam. 

Image Credit: EPM, DAGRAN.

Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss spent a few minutes with Mineros SA CFO Alan Wancier to discuss the company’s social commitments and unusual (for Colombia) mining techniques.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Alan Wancier of Mineros. Mineros has been a long-time sponsor of the Colombia Gold Summit. We’re here at CGS 2024. You just gave a really interesting presentation talking about Mineros. Mineros is a mining company. I think, if I’m not mistaken, you guys are based right here in Medellín, right?

Click on the above image to view the video.

Alan Wancier: Yes, our headquarters are in Medellín. Yeah.

Finance Colombia: Yeah, but you’re on the TSX.

Alan Wancier: Yes, also.

Finance Colombia: Great, great. And so, you guys have an interesting model because a lot of the mines, the precious metals mines that I’ve seen here in Colombia are your traditional kind of deep tunnel mines, but you guys have diverse operations. You guys have here in the north of Antioquia an interesting alluvial mining operation. If you could touch a little bit on that.

Alan Wancier: Yeah, so, we have an alluvial operation in El Bagre, Antioquia. It’s called the Nechí Mine. We have roughly five bucket dredges, nine suction dredges, and another couple of Brazilian dredges. We mine the bank of the river. Not the river, per se, in a closed pond. We create a closed pond, water doesn’t mix with the river water. And our deposit is between 15 meters and 30 meters deep. We dredge the deposit, we do the beneficiation within the bucket dredges, and inside the bucket dredges, all gold is separated just by water and gravity.

Finance Colombia: So that’s another thing I was going to ask you, because a lot of traditional mining operations need either cyanide or mercury, but you guys have a process that you use, I think a gravity-based process, that’s a lot more environmentally friendly.

Alan Wancier: Yes. We only use water and gravity, no chemicals, and the electricity for the dredges comes from our hydroelectric plants. So we have a very, let’s say, green gold. Our gold is very, very sustainable. And as we move upwards in the deposit or downstream in the river, we close the mine, we put a layer of soil, we plant again, and grass and forests grow again.

Finance Colombia: So, very environmentally responsible.

Alan Wancier: Yes, very environmentally responsible.

Finance Colombia: Now, that area of Colombia has also suffered from underinvestment and a lack of attention from the authorities. You also mentioned some of the things that, you know, you talked about the environmental responsibility that you guys have, but you also have some social programs and ways that you interact with the local economy up there, right?

Alan Wancier: Yes, we invest a lot in the local economy. We have a bee plantation, a bee…I’m not sure how you say it in English.

Finance Colombia: In Spanish.

Alan Wancier: An aviary…Beekeeping.

Finance Colombia: For a bird. Hatchery, a bird-

Alan Wancier: No, but for bees. Bees.

Finance Colombia: Oh, bees. Okay, apiculture.

Alan Wancier: Apiculture.

Finance Colombia: I forget the word for honey and bees. Yeah, there’s a word for it. I forget what it is in English [laughs].

Alan Wancier: We also have one of the biggest rubber plantations-

Finance Colombia: Oh, wow.

Alan Wancier: In the country. We also have some small projects, growing fish. And we also invest a lot in infrastructure.

Finance Colombia: Okay.

Alan Wancier: We invest a lot in the education; we have built bridges, we have built roads, and we invest a lot in the community, and we are very, very close to the community, and the community is very close to us for that reason.

Finance Colombia: I see, and that’s good. You know, I know that you guys have been good citizens. I’ve followed you all for some time, being here in Colombia. And I think one of the things also that you talked about, you know, our audience is made up of a lot of institutional investors, and it sounds like your shares are kind of trading at a bargain rate of discount, right now.

Alan Wancier: Yes, our shares, compared to our peers, are very cheap.

This is because, maybe several reasons. Probably the major reason is that we’ve been public in Colombia for 50 years.

Finance Colombia: Yeah.

Alan Wancier: Since the 1980s, give or take. But Colombia is a very illiquid market. We were the only gold mining company in the exchange. So, people and investors do not know how to value us in Colombia.

Finance Colombia: Right.

Alan Wancier: That’s why we did an IPO in Canada in 2021, with the idea that more people are going to know us and the idea for us to be better valued and to be able to do more business with other mining companies. In Canada, we started with a small float, only $25 million in the IPO.

But we’ve slowly been moving shares, or investors have been moving shares, from Colombia to Canada. And as more shares are moving in Canada, we get more liquidity in Canada and a better share price. As an example, last year in Canada, we were trading at 20,000 shares per day on average. Today, we’re trading 80,000 shares per average. So we have quadrupled the liquidity in Canada, and our strategy is to keep increasing that liquidity to maybe get a better rate or to get a re-rate in the future. Our stock has almost tripled since nine months ago, a year ago, for various reasons. Primarily because we have a new majority shareholder.

So those changes in shareholders have made a good positive impact in the Canadian and economic market. Also, of course, the price of gold has increased. That helps all gold mining companies. We have had very good results, and we hope to continue to have good results in the future. We also have had a bigger exposure to investors. We are going to every conference we can, and we are getting our name out.

Finance Colombia: I see that, and that’s important. You guys, I think that, one, when you bring in a majority shareholder, that’s a vote of confidence from the institutional capital markets. And it’s also, I think, important to point out that you guys are no startup. I think you guys are celebrating, like, your 50th anniversary.

Alan Wancier: We celebrated our 50th anniversary about a month ago, 3 weeks ago. Yes, we’re no startup, and we produce cash. We’re one of the few companies that actually makes cash and pays a dividend, and we pay a hefty dividend. Our current dividend yield is at 10%, and we have paid dividends for decades. We are probably an aristocrat dividend payer, probably compared to Agnico in terms of the number of years paying dividends consistently.

Finance Colombia: That’s unusual because a lot of the mining companies we see here in Colombia, not all of them, but a lot of them, are early-stage, still exploratory, juniors, things like that. But you guys are an established operation with a track record, and so I think that your move to TSX, your continued growth, and your responsibility as a company means that more investors are going to be inevitable, and I think that they are aware of you. So, thanks again for your time. Great presentation. And I think that mineros.com.co is how people can find out about it. And what’s the TSX symbol again?

Alan Wancier: MSA.

Finance Colombia: MSA.

Alan Wancier: MSA on the TSX.

Finance Colombia: Worth keeping a look-out.  I’m going to add that to my watch list, if not more, so thanks a lot.

Nechi is located roughly halfway between Medellín & Cartagena on the banks of the Cauca river.

The protests, which started on March 2, 2023, are taking place in, and have caused disruptions throughout, the Bajo Cauca region in northwestern Colombia where the Cauca river descends from the mountains into coastal plains.

Mineros says it will resume operations when it can ensure the safety and security of its employees and contractors.

The company has also warned that any extended suspension of operations may negatively impact its ability to meet its production guidance from the Nechi Alluvial Property. Mineros says it will keep the market informed of further developments.

Above photo: Colombian riot police clear blockades to reopen roadways in Colombia’s Bajo Cauca region where Clan del Golfo (mafia) sponsored unrest has disrupted commerce and civil life. (Policia Nacional de Colombia – Twitter)

The team, accompanied by Colombian technicians, toured the project area including the dam, upstream of the reservoir area and downstream to Nechí. They also reviewed the state of the marshes, interviewed fishing communities in the area, and worked with the ANLA local technical assets.

The recommendations that the scientists offered to their Colombian counterparts highlighted the need for coordinated actions to improve the conditions of the Magdalena-Cauca basin. They also stressed the importance of management and planning for watersheds and micro-watersheds, with better definition of the protection buffers provided by river banks, and careful regulation of socio-economic activities.

The team also recommended developing investment plans to encourage the implementation of wastewater treatment in the municipalities along the river; improving the management of fisheries based on ecosystems and their dynamics. Additionally, they pointed out the importance of the entities attached to the National Environmental System (SINA) working in a coordinated and joint manner to ensure that the impact assessment integrates their contributions as well as those of local, regional and national entities with responsibilities in the project, and establish quantifiable objectives to ensure transparency and inclusion with communities. In addition, they mentioned – based on the American experience – the benefit of giving priority to the exclusive use of native species, taking into account the risk analysis with adaptive management in the restoration process.

It is worth mentioning that the experts met with the participants of the ANLA inter-institutional support board for the contingency of Hidroituango, made up of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MADS), Corantioquia, the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (AUNAP), the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute (IAvH), representatives of the Presidency of the Republic and the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, they participated in an academic event at the Universidad Javieriana in Bogotá, where they talked about their experiences in the United States dealing with the application of public policies to care for the water of the Chesapeake Bay and the management of exotic species in Florida.