Aura Minerals to pay $60m in dividends, shares up

Based on its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2020, Aura Minerals Inc. (TSX: ORA) has announced a dividend payment of $0.83 per common share (about $60 million in total).

The dividend, which is more than the minimum dividend payable pursuant to the company’s dividend policy, will be paid on April 6, 2021, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 26, 2021.

Shareholders of record whose address on the books of TSX Trust Company, the company’s registrar and transfer agent, is in Canada will receive the Canadian dollar equivalent of the dividend, based on the Bank of Canada daily average exchange rate on the day before the payable date. All other shareholders will receive the dividend in US dollars, Aura said.

Holders of the company’s Brazilian depositary receipts (BDRs) are expected to receive payment by April 17, 2021. Holders of BDRs will receive the Brazilian reais equivalent of the dividend, based on the exchange rate on the payment date to BDR holders.

“The company finished 2020 in a very strong position, with $118 million in cash and negative net debt of $48 million. Additionally, as previously disclosed, GEO production is expected to increase during 2021 by 22% to 42%, which should lead to stronger results in the year ahead,” Aura president Rodrigo Barbosa said in a news release.

Aura is focused on the development of gold and base metals projects in the Americas. The company’s producing assets include the San Andres gold mine in Honduras, the Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique gold mine in Brazil, the Aranzazu copper-gold-silver mine in Mexico and the Gold Road mine in the US. It also has two gold projects in Brazil, Almas and Matupá, and one gold project in Colombia, Tolda Fria.

Shares of Aura Minerals jumped 7.5% by noon EST Tuesday. The mid-tier miner has a market capitalization of C$962.1 million.