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Tucano mine, Brazil

4th April 2014

By: Sheila Barradas

Creamer Media Research Coordinator & Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Name: Tucano (formerly Amapári) mine.

Location: The Tucano mine is located in Amapá state, in northern Brazil.

Controlling Company: Beadell Resources.

Brief History: The Tucano gold mine was acquired by Beadell Resources in 2010. The mine was previously a heap-leach operation and has transitioned into a carbon-in-leach (CIL) facility.

In May 2011, Ausenco completed a definitive feasibility study on the Tucano gold project and, in the same month, Beadell Resources formally approved the decision to mine. The construction of the CIL gold plant started in July 2011 and first gold was poured in December 2012.

The Tucano gold project is unique in that significant deposits of Itabirite iron-ore are coincident with the gold mineralisation. In March 2012, the company decided to build an iron-ore concentrate plant at the back end of the CIL gold plant to extract high-grade iron-ore from the CIL tailings. In June 2013, Beadell Resources produced the first iron-ore concentrate from its Tucano gold plant tailings using the newly commissioned magnetic separation plant.

Brief Description: The Tucano mine covers about 2 500 km2 of mostly contiguous exploration licences and a mining concession.

Geology/Mineralisation: Gold mineralisation at Tucano is struc- turally controlled along a 7-km-long north-striking fault zone, hosted predominantly within banded iron formation.

The mine is situated in the Vila Nova Greenstone Belt, part of the Guiana Shield that covers the northern part of Brazil and parts of the Guianas. It also extends north-west into eastern Venezuela. Gold mineralisation is hosted by iron and carbonate-rich chemical units of the William Formation, part of the volcanic sediments of the Vila Nova Group. The deposits have skarn characteristics and are also related to hydrothermalism along a shear zone. The hydrothermalism is marked by silicification, sulphidation with pyrrhotite and pyrite, and carbonates. The mineralisation is hosted by banded iron formations of oxide, oxide-silicate and silicate facies, and over calc-silicate schists, marble and amphibolites. There are three types of mineralisation. The primary mineralisation is characterised by sulphides and occurs at depth in fresh rock. The second, called saprolite, consists of on-site weathered portions of the sulphide material. The third type is colluvium, which overlays the saprolite ore as a blanket spreading out over the hill slopes. The saprolite and the colluvial ores collectively constitute the softer oxide ore.

Reserves: Total proven and probable oxide and primary gold reserves as at 2013 were 32.89-million tonnes, with a gold grading of 1.58 g/t.

Resources: Total measured, indicated and inferred oxide and primary resources as at 2013 were 100.46-million tonnes, with a gold grading of 1.45 g/t.

Products: Gold and iron-ore.

Mining Method: Openpit.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The Tucano mine has a fully operational and well-maintained mining fleet and ancillary plant on site, totaling 35 pieces of equipment, which includes:
• one Liebherr 994 and three 964 excavators;
• five CAT 777D trucks and 12 A35 trucks;
• three CAT D8R dozers and two 160H motor graders;
• all associated service vehicles; and
• a workshop.

Prospects: Construction of a transverse conveyor system to supplement and enhance feed to the semiautogenous (SAG) mill at Tucano is complete and is being commissioned. This system is independent of the main crushing plant and is intended to deal with the processing of the large stockpiles of crushed low-grade ore (7.9-million tonnes at 0.78g/t) and colluvium ore. Both these ore sources are intermittently contaminated with timber and can present a constraint to high throughput in the current crushing plant.

The new system independently supplies up to 400 t/h to the final conveyor that feeds the SAG mill. This simple system comprises a bin, an apron feeder and a screen for timber removal and, when used in conjunction with the crusher, has the potential to significantly increase the feed to the mill beyond 4.5-million tonnes a year.

Contact Person: Investor relations.

Contact Details:
Beadell Resources
Tel +61 8 9429 0800
Fax +61 8 9481 3176
Email info@beadellresources.com.au
Website http://www.beadellresources.com.au

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

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