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Aya Gold & Silver
La Salle founded Aya in 2007, acquiring the historic Zgounder silver mine in Morocco's Souss-Massa region through a subsidiary.
Aya Gold & Silver
La Salle founded Aya in 2007, acquiring the historic Zgounder silver mine in Morocco's Souss-Massa region through a subsidiary. The mine had produced intermittently since the 1960s but lacked modern processing infrastructure. Aya completed a 700-tonne-per-day mill by 2019, then launched an expansion to 2,700 tonnes in 2022 — lifting annual silver output toward 8 million ounces, which would place Zgounder among the world's 15 largest primary silver mines (per the firm's NI 43-101 technical report, 2022). The company remains registered in Canada and dual-listed on the TSX and OTCQX. The firm deploys capital around a single long-life underground mine, targeting a 15-year mine life at expanded capacity. It processes ore through a combination of gravity concentration and cyanidation, recovering both silver and an associated gold credit. Aya controls five additional exploration permits along a 70-kilometer strike in the Anti-Atlas, including the Boumadine polymetallic project — a historical producer with a 2023 43-101 resource estimate. In September 2023, the firm completed a $100 million debt package with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a syndicate led by Société Générale's Moroccan affiliate, covering the bulk of the $159 million expansion budget without a dilutive equity raise (per the firm, September 2023). The EBRD facility is among the first tied to strict ESG performance targets for a listed junior miner in North Africa. The Montreal office houses executive management, while approximately 600 direct and contractor employees work at Zgounder and Boumadine. The mine operates a 4-megawatt solar plant supplemented by grid power, positioning it as one of the lowest-carbon silver operations in Africa. Aya also maintains a locally registered foundation funding water access and maternal health initiatives in the Anti-Atlas communities. In February 2024, the firm reported commercial production at the new mill, hitting nameplate capacity one quarter ahead of schedule, and ended the year with over $40 million in cash against the drawn project debt. Aya's structural advantage is jurisdictional: Morocco operates under a 1950s mining code that grants 100% foreign ownership with no state free-carry and a flat 3% royalty on revenue, contrasting with higher-royalty regimes in West Africa and Latin America where peer silver developers operate. The firm holds its permits through a locally domiciled operating entity but retains the full project pipeline under the parent, offering institutional investors a clean royalty-free equity exposure to silver without the sovereign-risk discount trailing most African miners.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2007
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
Canada
City
Montreal
Corporate office
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Additional offices
Casablanca, Morocco
Principals
Benoit La Salle
President & CEO
Ugo Landry-Tolszczuk
Chief Financial Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs day-to-day operations and investment decisions at Aya Gold & Silver?
Benoit La Salle, a mining engineer and founder of SEMAFO (now part of Allied Gold), has served as President and CEO since founding Aya in 2007. He relocated operations decision-making to Casablanca, maintaining technical leadership alongside CFO Ugo Landry-Tolszczuk. The board includes geologist Tony Ker, who previously led exploration for IAMGOLD in West Africa.
Is Aya Gold & Silver a royalty company, streaming company, or an operator?
Aya is a pure operator — it owns the Zgounder mine outright without underlying royalties, streams, or state carried-interest liabilities. The firm's 100% subsidiary holds the mining permits, processes ore on-site, and sells doré bars directly to refineries including Metalor Technologies. There is no intermediary royalty or streaming structure diluting equity returns.
How does Aya fund its expansion, and is there equity dilution risk?
The Zgounder expansion to 2,700 tonnes per day carried a 2022 feasibility-study capex estimate of $159 million. Aya closed a $100 million senior debt package in September 2023 split between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a Moroccan banking syndicate, leaving a $59 million equity component already largely met from cash flow and prior equity financing. The firm ended Q4 2023 with over $40 million in cash against roughly $70 million drawn on the facility. Its operational cash flow from the 700-tonne-per-day circuit during construction reduced reliance on secondary equity raises.
Which government regulates Aya's primary asset, and what are the fiscal terms?
The Zgounder mine falls under Morocco's mining code, which permits full foreign ownership of a locally registered subsidiary, imposes a flat 3% net-smelter-return royalty to the state, and carries a standard corporate income tax. The regime has been stable since the 1950s. Aya operates through Zgounder Millennium Silver Mining, a Moroccan société anonyme, and holds additional exploration permits under the same legal structure.
Does Aya have exposure to other metals or only silver?
Silver is the primary metal, but the Zgounder orebody carries a gold credit amounting to roughly 5–8% of total payable metal revenue. The Boumadine polymetallic project, five kilometers from the Zgounder plant, hosts zinc, lead, and silver in a historical mineral resource. Aya's exploration on Boumadine in 2023 expanded the strike length to over four kilometers, suggesting eventual byproduct production could reach commercial scale.
What sectors or jurisdictions does the firm explicitly avoid?
Aya has not operated outside Morocco since inception and has no publicly stated plans to enter other African jurisdictions or Latin America, where its management team has prior experience. The firm's investor materials consistently position Ba1/BB+ sovereign-rated Morocco as a risk-mitigating differentiator relative to lower-rated mining jurisdictions. Aya also avoids base-metal-only projects, maintaining a precious-metals focus even within polymetallic exploration.
Are there philanthropic or ESG structures tied to the mining operations?
Yes — Aya operates a locally registered foundation in the Anti-Atlas focusing on drinking-water infrastructure, maternal health clinics, and agricultural support programs for communities surrounding Zgounder. The EBRD debt package includes ESG covenants requiring annual third-party audits of water consumption intensity, community grievance mechanisms, and local procurement targets. In 2023, Aya reported over 80% of its mine workforce drawn from within a 60-kilometer radius of the operation.
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