Aura Minerals posts record H1 on gold price surge and portfolio growth

The mid-tier gold miner doubled revenue year-on-year as elevated spot prices amplified a 27% production jump across six Americas operations.

By Disrupts Editorial Team Fri, 21 August 2026

An outdoor electrical substation features rows of large grey transformers and tall metal transmission towers interconnected by power lines against a bright daylight sky, with distant hills visible.

Aura Minerals (NASDAQ: AUGO), the multi-jurisdiction gold and base-metals producer, reported its strongest first half on record in H1 2026, with net revenue of US$718.6 million, more than double the US$352.2 million posted in H1 2025. The result reflects a potent combination: group production rose 27% to 157,574 gold equivalent ounces (GEO), while the average realised gold price climbed 53% year-on-year to US$4,566 per ounce. Adjusted EBITDA for the half reached US$440.5 million, up 135% year-on-year, at a 61% margin.

CEO Rodrigo Barbosa said the company is "firmly on track" with its full-year production target of 340,000 to 390,000 GEO, supported by second-half guidance of 182,000 to 232,000 GEO. On a rolling twelve-month basis, Adjusted EBITDA reached US$802 million, the twelfth consecutive quarterly increase, and net leverage stands at a conservative 0.21x net debt to LTM EBITDA.

Growth engines and cost pressures

The production uplift was driven by three sources: the ramp of the Borborema mine in Brazil, which contributed 31,352 GEO in H1 after reaching commercial production only in Q3 2025; the addition of the MSG underground mine, also in Brazil; and a 23% year-on-year volume increase at Almas following a plant expansion. These gains offset planned grade declines at Aranzazu in Mexico and at Apoena in Brazil, both of which are being repositioned for higher-grade access in the second half.

Cost performance was more mixed. Group All-in Sustaining Costs (AISC, the industry's standard measure of total production cost per ounce) rose 31% year-on-year to US$1,906 per GEO in H1, largely because MSG is mid-turnaround: the mine's AISC reached US$4,399 per GEO as Aura invests in underground primary development intended to shift the operation to a more productive bottom-up mining method. Excluding MSG, group AISC was US$1,615 per GEO, within the company's full-year guidance range of US$1,720 to US$1,865.

Capital expenditure of US$128.4 million in H1, up 26% year-on-year, is weighted towards expansion, with US$76.6 million allocated to growth projects. The largest single item is the Era Dorada gold project in Guatemala, where earthmoving is 60% complete and the company says construction is on schedule. Era Dorada is notable for its geothermal power supply and closed-water circuit, positioning it as a benchmark for lower-emissions hard-rock mining in Central America.

Capital flows and the gold-price macro backdrop

The results arrive at an inflection point for gold capital markets. Spot gold above US$4,000 per ounce is not merely a tailwind for existing producers: it is reshaping the economics of development-stage projects that were marginal at US$2,000, and accelerating M&A as majors seek to replace reserves. Aura's own trajectory illustrates the dynamic, its LTM EBITDA has more than quadrupled in two years, compressing net leverage and generating the free cash flow needed to self-fund an expanding project pipeline.

The company's multi-country footprint adds a geopolitical dimension worth noting for cross-sector investors. Operations span Honduras, Brazil, and Mexico, with development assets in Guatemala and Colombia. Currency movements, particularly Brazilian Real and Mexican Peso appreciation against the US dollar, are already showing up in cost lines. A stronger Real is structurally significant: Brazil hosts the majority of Aura's production growth, and sustained Real appreciation could erode per-ounce margins even as gold prices remain elevated.

Aura returned approximately 4.3% to shareholders over the last twelve months through dividends and a new US$200 million buyback programme approved in June 2026. Recurring Free Cash Flow for H1 reached US$175.1 million, up 107% year-on-year, though gold hedge losses of US$70.6 million, linked to Borborema collars struck at a US$2,400 ceiling price in 2023, continue to act as a drag. Those collars cover 166,578 ounces and expire between July 2026 and June 2028, meaning the full benefit of current spot prices will only flow unrestricted once the hedge book rolls off.

For macro investors tracking commodity-linked capital allocation, Aura's record half crystallises a broader thesis: mid-tier gold producers with active development pipelines are capturing a disproportionate share of the gold-price upside cycle, while simultaneously becoming more attractive acquisition targets for cash-rich majors seeking near-term production growth.