Name of the Project
Aurizona gold mine expansion.

Location
Brazil.

Project Owner/s
Equinox Gold.

Project Description
A prefeasibility study (PFS) has determined that adding an underground mine beneath the existing Piaba openpit, and mining the Tatajuba and Genipapo satellite openpit deposits concurrently with the existing Piaba openpit, will extend the Aurizona life-of-mine (LoM) to 11 years. The expansion of the mine is based on proven and probable reserves of 32.33-million tonnes grading 1.6 g/t gold.

In the PFS mine plan, Tatajuba provides two-million tonnes grading 1.39 g/t gold, with 70% of the material being saprolite and transition material and the remainder fresh rock.

The Genipapo area is separated into two small areas – Genipapo North and Genipapo South – that will share a common waste storage facility. Combined, the two Genipapo pits are expected to provide 673 000 t grading 0.81 g/t gold of saprolite and laterite feed.

The project will produce about 137 000 oz/y of gold and 1.5-million ounces over the LoM, with peak production from years 2026 to 2029, averaging more than 160 000 oz/y of gold.

The Aurizona process plant treats ore using a conventional cyanidation process. Run-of-mine ore is processed using a conventional primary crush and semiautogenous grinding and ball mill comminution circuit followed by a gravity circuit, carbon-in-leach (CIL) process and associated gold recovery and carbon handling circuits to produce gold doré. Recent metallurgical testwork on samples from Piaba underground and Tatajuba confirm a similar metallurgical response using the existing processing circuit. No flowsheet changes or plant modifications will be required to treat ore from future mining areas.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 5% discount rate, of $354-million at a gold price of $1 500/oz of gold.

Capital Expenditure
Capital costs for the underground mining operation are estimated at $154-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The Tatajuba deposit is a two-phase pit design scheduled to start production in the fourth quarter of 2023. Mining will continue in 2024 then pause until 2027, when the second phase will be complete.

Mining of Genipapo South would start in 2024 and then move to Genipapo North, which is complete, in 2028.

Latest Developments
An extensive exploration programme is ongoing at Aurizona to further expand mineral resources, and convert resources to mineral reserves. Exploration is also continuing along strike and at depth at several near-mine targets. Equinox Gold plans to start permitting of the exploration decline in late 2021, which will allow for targeted drilling of the orebody from underground, which will also serve as the ramp for future underground mining.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Equinox Gold, tel +1604558 0560 or email ir@equinoxgold.com.