Aya Gold & Silver Inc.
Aya Gold & Silver is a Canadian precious metals company anchored in Morocco, where its flagship Zgounder Silver Mine is a commercial silver producer that has rapidly scaled output - record Q2 2026 production of 1.68M silver-equivalent ounces, up 61% year-over-year. The company also holds the polymetallic Boumadine project in Morocco at exploration/evaluation stage, and recently dual-listed on Nasdaq alongside its TSX listing.
Lifecycle Milestones
Construction Milestones
5 of 5 reached- Jan 2012 · Source
- Reached — date not disclosed
- Reached — date not disclosed · Source
- Reached — date not disclosed · Source
- Jan 2019 · Source
Milestones are recorded only from a company's own dated disclosure. A milestone with no date shown is one we can confirm was reached but for which no date was disclosed — we don't estimate one. "Not yet reached" means exactly that, not that a date is missing. An "Expected" line likewise only ever reflects the company's own guidance (e.g. a study or permit decision targeted for a stated quarter) — most not-yet-reached milestones have none, and that absence means no such guidance has been disclosed, not that one is overdue.
Jurisdiction (40%)6/10
Morocco has a stable, mining-friendly government and a long mining history, though it doesn't carry the same institutional track record as top-tier jurisdictions like Canada, Australia, or Chile.
Infrastructure (40%)10/10
A confirmed mill, confirmed road access, confirmed grid power, and a confirmed tailings facility at Zgounder Silver Mine, Anti-Atlas Range, Morocco.
Nearby producing mine (20%)Not yet researched
No producing mine within 50 km in our reference list (nearest listed: Neves-Corvo (Boliden AB), 760 km). That list doesn't cover every mining district yet, so a longer distance isn't scored as remote.
Acquisition Susceptibility
A relative ranking of how closely this company matches the profile of juniors that have actually been acquired — not a probability, and not a reason to buy. Acquisitions are rare: only a few dozen significant deals happen a year across a universe of thousands of juniors, so even a high score here describes a long shot. The strongest signal in the research, a producer that already owns part of the company, is scored from its disclosed strategic shareholders. A producer that is a joint-venture or earn-in partner on the project, rather than a shareholder, isn't captured yet.
How this score is built
- Disclosed pending dealSub-score: Not scored
No pending acquisition or merger disclosed (checked)
Not scored: having no deal in flight isn't held against a company.
Weight 26.25% - Producer's strategic stakeSub-score: Not scored
No producer holds a disclosed stake on file (holder register researched) See holders
Not scored: most juniors that do get bought had no prior toehold, so a missing stake says little either way.
Weight 25% - Distance to a producing mineSub-score:0/10
Nearest producing mine: Neves-Corvo (Boliden AB), 760 km
10 next to a producing mine, 8 at 20 km, 5 at 50 km, 0 beyond 200 km.
Weight 22.5% · 46% here - Lifecycle stageSub-score:5.5/10
Stage: Production
Feasibility and permitting score 10, where deals cluster, and production 5.5; earlier stages score less, down to 1 at grassroots.
Weight 15% · 31% here - JurisdictionSub-score:6/10
Morocco: jurisdiction score 6/10
Our jurisdiction score, used as is: higher means lower political and permitting risk.
Weight 6.75% · 14% here - CommoditySub-score:5/10
Primary commodity: Silver
Gold 10, copper 8, silver 5, nickel and uranium 4, others 2: most majors' deals are for gold.
Weight 4.5% · 9% here
Weight is each input's share of the full score. “Here” is its share of this company's score: inputs that aren't scored are left out and the rest re-weighted, never counted as zero.
Your Rankings
Management Team
President & CEO of Aya Gold & Silver Inc. since April 2020 and Executive Chairman of Sama Resources Inc. FCPA with an MBA and 30+ years of mining executive experience, much of it developing and operating projects in West Africa. Founded SEMAFO Inc. in 1995, leading it from a junior explorer to a 250,000+ oz/year gold producer, ultimately as Executive Chairman until its ~C$1bn acquisition by Endeavour Mining, completed Jul 2020. Also serves as Chairman of the Canadian Council on Africa, Lead Director at GoviEx Uranium, and Founder/Executive Chairman at SRG Mining Inc. Earlier directorships at Earth Alive Clean Technologies and Algold Resources Ltd.
CFO of Aya Gold & Silver Inc. since May 2020 and an independent director of SRQ Resources Inc. CFA charterholder with a B.A.Sc. in Computer Engineering (Management Science) from the University of Waterloo. 15 years across mining, energy, and technology. Has also served as President and COO of TSXV-listed SRG Mining (re-appointed Jun 2020), where he led its largest financing and advanced its graphite project from PEA to bankable feasibility. Earlier roles at Windiga Energy (Director of Operations), Research in Motion, ATI Technologies, and Distech Controls.
Insiders, Investors & Smart Money
Notable shareholders and insiders whose involvement is worth knowing about, plus what we're seeing from institutional/large-investor activity.
The dominant fact on this register is an exit. On 21 January 2026, following a board transition announced six days earlier, nine insiders sold about 8.47 million shares at $21.47 in a single pre-announced secondary transaction -- Robert Taub and Jurgen Hambrecht accounting for the bulk of it, with roughly 12% of the executive team's holdings going alongside. The company framed it as ordinary portfolio management and management still holds around 7.7 million shares. The only purchase on record in the last year is Yves Grou's 6,700 shares in September 2025. On the institutional side, Van Eck Associates is the largest holder at about 10%, but that is its aggregate index exposure rather than a specific fund's decision, and the only other named holder is a rules-based silver ETF at 1.67%.
No notable insiders tracked for this miner yet.
Reports, Presentations & Documents
Aya Gold & Silver's flagship is the Zgounder silver mine in Morocco's Anti-Atlas range, in commercial production since 2019; silver made up 98.9% of its 2025 precious-metals revenue. The December 2025 technical report gives Zgounder 100,200,000 oz of silver in measured and indicated resources (67,100,000 oz measured, 33,100,000 oz indicated) at 165 g/t, plus 4,500,000 oz inferred, and proven and probable reserves of 73 Moz. The life-of-mine plan averages about 6 Moz of silver a year over 11 years; the report does not publish an NPV or IRR. Aya also holds the polymetallic Boumadine project in Morocco, where it published a preliminary economic assessment in November 2025, and its Q2 2026 production was a record 1.68 Moz silver-equivalent, up 61% year on year.
Aya Gold & Silver's updated NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Zgounder Silver Mine in Morocco (filed 16 Dec 2025) carries updated Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves, an updated Mineral Resource Estimate and a revised life-of-mine plan built on a capital-efficient open-pit strategy with targeted underground zones, extending the mine life to 2036. Average annual production of about 6M oz of silver over the next 11 years, roughly 66M oz in total. Proven and Probable Reserves of 73M oz silver at 145 g/t (15.7Mt), at a US$26/oz silver price assumption and reflecting depletion to 30 Sep 2025. The Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by RSC Consulting Ltd.; the Mineral Reserve and remainder of the report were prepared by Aya.