Aya Gold & Silver Inc. announced that it has reached commercial production at its 100% owned Zgounder Mine located in the Kingdom of Morocco. The new Zgounder mill first started processing ore on November 4th, 2024. The first silver pour from Zgounder's new processing plant was achieved on November 27th, with commercial production reached on December 29th, less than two months after the mill began processing the first ore.

Over a thirty-day period ending on December 29th, a total of 45,683 tonnes of ore were processed at the new mill. Processing rates averaged 84 tonnes per hour ("tph"), at 75% availability. Recently, between December 19th and 29th, mill throughput averaged 1,834 tpd and reached 2,152 tpd on December 27th with stable operating conditions.

Mill availability and silver recovery were 86% and 79%, respectively, and improving daily. Commercial production was defined as a period of 30 days of operations during which the new mill operated at a minimum of 60% of the mill nameplate throughput of 2,000 tpd. This milestone was reached on December 29th, 45,683t were processed for the period averaging 76% capacity.

Construction of the new processing plant at Zgounder began in mid-2022 with a target of declaring commercial production in 2024. Ramp up of the plant in the last two months has progressed to Company's expectations. Commercial production has been achieved, and throughput and recovery are improving.

Aya continues to ramp up production to reach nameplate as soon as possible, targeting first quarter of 2025.