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Stronger economics, longer mine life and higher silver production underpin low capex precious metals project

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MONTREAL, Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aya Gold & Silver Inc. (TSX: AYA; NASDAQ: AYA) (“Aya” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the results of its updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (the “2026 PEA” or the “Study”) for the Boumadine Project (the “Project” or “Boumadine”) located in the Kingdom of Morocco. The 2026 PEA was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”) by independent Qualified Persons from Lycopodium (Americas) Ltd (“Lycopodium”) and CCE Mining (“CCE”), among others. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE” or “2026 MRE”) contained in the 2026 PEA was prepared by independent Qualified Person Mr. Guy Dishaw, P.Geo from SRK Consulting UK (“SRK”). The 2026 PEA supersedes the previous PEA (the “2025 PEA” or “Prior PEA”). All financial figures in this press release are in U.S. dollars.

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Boumadine is Aya’s development-stage polymetallic project. The 2026 PEA outlines a plan to produce three payable concentrates, zinc (“Zn”), lead (“Pb”) and pyrite, with revenues largely driven by gold (“Au”) and silver (“Ag”).

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2026 PEA – Economic Highlights

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  • Significantly improved project economics, reflecting the combined impact of updated metal price assumptions, higher payable metal production and an extended mine life from 11 to 14 years.
    • After-tax (base case1): $3.5B net present value (5%) (“NPV5%”), more than doubled from the Prior PEA, with a 93% after-tax internal rate of return (“IRR”), and 0.7 year payback period.
    • After-tax (spot prices2): $5.5B NPV5%, 128% IRR and 0.5-year payback.
    • Increased metal payability: 82% and 85% gold and silver payability, respectively, representing increases of 12% and 8%, from the Prior PEA, reflecting updated market conditions.
    • Strong capital efficiency3: $463M of initial capital expenditure – broadly in line with the 2025 PEA, with NPV5%:Capex ratio increasing to 7.6x, up from 3.3x in the Prior PEA.

Article content1.Base Case assumes prices of $3,500/oz Au, $50/oz Ag, $1.37/lb Zn, and $0.90/lb Pb.2.Spot Prices case assumes prices of $4,472/oz Au, $66.85/oz Ag, $1.77/lb Zn, and $0.85/lb Pb, as of September 3, 2026.Article content

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Table 1: Boumadine 2026 PEA – Project Economic Highlights

Article contentAfter-tax  Updated PEA2025 PEAChangeBase case assumptions (LOM4)    Gold Price$/oz3,5002,80025%Silver Price$/oz503067%Average metal payables%83%73%10 ptsProject Economics (LOM4)    Net Present Value (NPV5%)$M3,5371,475 140 %Internal Rate of Return (“IRR”)%93%47%46 ptsPaybackyears0.72.1-1.4 Initial Capital Expenditures$M4634464%Capital Efficiency Ratio3–7.63.34.3 Revenue$M10,9956,99157%EBITDA5$M6,1453,41880%Free Cash Flow (FCF)5$M4,6941,958140%Article content3.Capital efficiency ratio is the ratio of Net Present Values, discounted at 5%, to the initial capital expenditure.4.Data shown over life of mine (“LOM”) of 14 years.5.EBITDA and FCF are a non-IFRS financial measures and have no standardized meaning under IFRS Accounting Standards (“IFRS”) and may not be comparable to similar measures used by other issuers. Refer to “Non-IFRS and Other Financial Measures” for more information.Article content

Cautionary statement: Readers are cautioned that the 2026 PEA is preliminary in nature, it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the 2026 PEA will be realized.