11:19 AM EDT, 06/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Aya Gold & Silver ( AYASF ) on Wednesday started commissioning activities at its 2,000-tonne per day (tpd) mill at the Zgounder Silver Mine in Morocco.

The Zgounder expansion is now more than 95% complete.

"Commissioning is proceeding to plan with all systems performing as expected," said chief executive Benoit La Salle. "With physical completion at 95% and capital expenditures on the project winding down, we are approaching an exciting inflection point when we expect to see Zgounder investment begin to yield meaningful cash flow and shareholder returns."

Meanwhile, Aya maintained its Outperform rating and $22 price target from National Bank of Canada following the news.

The bank reiterated Aya as a top precious metals pick, citing production growth and high-grade resource accretion at Zgounder as well as promising pipeline prospect at the Boumadine project.

Aya's shares were last seen up $0.52 to $13.41 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Price: 13.41, Change: +0.52, Percent Change: +4.03