TSX- and NYSE-listed Aris Mining Corporation has completed the preparation of an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) on the Soto Norte gold and copper project, in Colombia, ahead of community engagement and submission of the full ESIA to government.

Aris plans to undertake community meetings in Matanza, Suratá and California in October, during which the company will present the ESIA, receive community feedback and consider relevant submissions before finalising the ESIA for submission.

CEO and chairperson Neil Woodyer says Soto Norte remains one of the most attractive high-grade, long-life underground gold projects in the Americas, with copper byproducts providing additional strategic value.

He mentions that the redesigned Soto Norte project combined reduced scale and stronger economics with dedicated mill capacity for local miners.

Having prepared the ESIA for community engagement and received technical mine plan approval from the National Mining Agency, Aris is ready to advance Soto Norte toward environmental licensing and ultimately a construction decision.

"In the final months of the previous administration, several measures were introduced that restricted new mining authorisations and environmental licensing in areas relevant to Soto Norte, creating uncertainty around the project’s regulatory path. Since the change in administration, the La Baja permanent reserve has been revoked, the expiry of the Temporary Reserve Area has reverted to its original date of March 4, 2027, which is well aligned with our expected project timeline, while the Santurbán Páramo delimitation process will continue under applicable constitutional, legal, technical, environmental and participatory requirements," Woodyer explains.

He adds that a central feature of Soto Norte is a new partnership approach with local miners.

"By providing local miners with access to modern processing infrastructure and responsible tailings and water management, we believe Soto Norte can support formal employment and economic opportunities while reducing the environmental impacts associated with informal processing. This approach builds on the responsible mining model we have successfully implemented with local small-scale miners at the Segovia and Marmato mines.”

The company has formalised more than 3 550 miners in the region.

Soto Norte is envisioned to be a 22-year operation based on 4.6-million ounces of gold reserves at an average grade of seven grams per tonne. The redesigned development strategy envisions a mill with 3 500 t/day capacity, including 750 t/d of capacity dedicated for processing material from local miners.

Copper production will be about 84-million pounds and silver production 18.8-million ounces over Soto Norte's lifetime.