Aura Minerals Reports Preliminary Fourth Quarter Operational Results and 2014 Guidance

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan 23, 2014) - Aura Minerals Inc. ("Aura Minerals" or the "Company") (TSX:ORA) is pleased to announce preliminary 2013 fourth quarter and full year production results and guidance for 2014 production and capital expenditure. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

Preliminary 2013 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Operating Results

The Company produced 48,297 ounces ("oz") of gold in the fourth quarter ("Q4") of 2013, as compared to 49,472 oz gold produced in Q4 2012 and the third quarter ("Q3") 2013 gold production of 55,611 oz.

In 2013, Aura Minerals produced 206,747 oz of gold, representing a 20% increase over 172,479 oz produced in 2012. Full year gold production for 2013 exceeded previously provided guidance and represented a record year for the Company.

Aura Minerals' full year 2013 preliminary gold production per mine was as follows:

The Company's Aranzazu Mine produced 3,638,000 pounds ("lb") of contained copper in Q4 2013, as compared to 2,044,000 lb of contained copper in Q4 2012 and 3,774,500 lb of contained copper in Q3 2012. In 2013, Aranzazu produced 13,623,000 lb of contained copper, representing a 26% increase over the 10,801,000 lb of contained copper produced in 2012.

Production and Capital Expenditure Guidance - 2014

The Company's production and cash cost per oz² guidance for the 2014 calendar year is as follows:

Aranzazu's production guidance for 2014 is expected to increase to between 18,000,000 and 19,500,000 lb of copper at a range of $2.60 to $3.15 cash cost per payable lb² of copper prior to the effect of any write-downs to net realizable value.

For 2014, capital expenditures are expected to be $59M. Of this amount, $43M relates to the expansion of Aranzazu and the installation of a roasting facility, while $12M relates to San Andres and the installation of a secondary crusher, Phase V of the heap leach expansion and community expenditures. The remaining portion will be spent on various miscellaneous projects in the group. The capital expenditure programme for the expansion of Aranzazu is dependent upon successful completion of financing.

Non-GAAP Measures

This news release includes certain non-GAAP performance measures, in particular, the average cash cost of gold per oz and average cash cost per payable pound of copper are non-GAAP performance measures. These non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning within IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company believes that these measures provide investors with additional information which is useful in evaluating the Company's performance and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Average cash costs per oz of gold or per payable pound of copper are presented as they represent an industry standard method of comparing certain costs on a per unit basis. Total cash costs of gold produced include on-site mining, processing and administration costs, off-site refining and royalty charges, reduced by silver by-product credits, but exclude amortization, reclamation, and exploration costs, as well as capital expenditures. Total cash costs of gold produced are divided by oz produced to arrive at per oz cash costs. Similarly, total cash costs of copper produced include the above costs, and are net of gold and silver by-products, but include offsite treatment and refining charges. Total cash costs of copper produced are divided by payable pounds of copper produced to arrive at per payable pound cash costs.

About Aura Minerals Inc.

Aura Minerals is a Canadian mid-tier gold and copper production company focused on the development and operation of gold and base metal projects in the Americas. The Company's producing assets include the copper-gold-silver Aranzazu mine in Mexico, the San Andres gold mine in Honduras and the Sao Francisco and Sao Vicente gold mines in Brazil. The Company's core development asset is the copper-gold-iron Serrote da Laje project in Brazil.

Cautionary Note

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements", as defined in applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the Company's current estimates, predictions, expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, without limitation, statements with respect to: preliminary Q4 and 2013 full year production, 2014 production, cash costs and capital expenditure guidance. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategy", "goals", "objectives" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Forward-looking statements in this news release are based upon, without limitation, the following estimates and assumptions: the presence of and continuity of metals at the Company's Mines at modeled grades; the capacities of various machinery and equipment; the availability of personnel, machinery and equipment at estimated prices; exchange rates; metals and minerals sales prices; appropriate discount rates; tax rates and royalty rates applicable to the mining operations; cash costs; anticipated mining losses and dilution; metals recovery rates, reasonable contingency requirements; and receipt of regulatory approvals on acceptable terms.

Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to predict or control could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Specific reference is made to the Company's most recent Annual Information Form for a discussion of some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements, which include, without limitation, gold and copper or certain other commodity price volatility, changes in debt and equity markets, the uncertainties involved in interpreting geological data, increases in costs, environmental compliance and changes in environmental legislation and regulation, interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations, general economic conditions and other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the forward-looking statements.

All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by this cautionary statement. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. If the Company does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.