Name: Santa Luz mine.
Location: The Santa Luz project is located in the Maria Preta mining district, 35 km north of Santa Luz, in Bahia state, Brazil.
Holding and Controlling Company: Brio Gold.
Brief Description: Santa Luz is a fully constructed openpit mine. The project comprises the C1, Antas 2, Antas 3, Mansinha South and North, and Mari deposits.
The mine was put on care and maintenance in 2014 to focus on optimizing gold recoveries. The mine is advancing towards its restart, which is planned for the first half of 2018. It is expected to have a mine life of ten years.
Brief History: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) invested in a regional prospecting programme in Bahia state during the 1970s, while other private and State-owned companies undertook intensive prospecting, geological mapping, and research programmes. It was at this time that the Rio Itapicurú greenstone belt (RIGB) was discovered.
A State-owned mineral exploration company, the Companhia Baiana de Pesquisa Mineral (CBPM) conducted several geological and prospecting programmes within the RIGB from 1979 to 1981. These activities identified several gold-bearing trends and prospects, including the C1 and Mansinha North deposits located in the Santa Luz project area, which were mined from 1987 to 1995 by CBPM’s subsidiary Rio Salitre Mineração.
Yamana completed an agreement with CBPM in 2005 to acquire 7 000 ha over the historic C1 mine. Under the agreement, CPBM retains a 2% royalty interest in these concessions.
Yamana expanded its land ownership in May 2007, by acquiring mining concessions from Mineração Santa Elina, a former subsidiary of CVRD, which included Antas 1 (now considered part of C1), Antas 2 and Antas 3.
Yamana formed Brio Gold in December 2014, to hold, among other mines, the Santa Luz project,
Products: Gold.
Geology/Mineralisation: Gold deposits and prospects in the project area occur in silicified breccia zones at or proximal to the faulted contact of the volcanic and sedimentary domains of the RIGB. Significant gold targets and deposits in the Santa Luz trend comprise the C1 (including Antas 1), Antas 2, Antas 3, the Mansinha trend south (including M11 and M3-M4) and north (including M16 and M17), and the Mari deposit.
Important host rocks include dioritic and dacitic intrusive and volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks, and a lesser amount of other volcanic and tuffaceous rocks. The dioritic and dacitic intrusions are epizonal, and are typically porphyritic with fine to medium grained quartz and feldspar phenocrysts. The contacts with sedimentary rocks are commonly sharp, concordant with the main regional foliation and exhibit finer-grained marginal phases (chill margins). The sedimentary and tuffaceous rocks are derived from and are closely related to the dacitic volcanic rocks.
Sedimentary rocks and tuffaceous rocks commonly contain organic carbon, which appears to be a primary sedimentary component. More massive volcanic rocks are relatively free of organic carbon. Host rocks are grouped for metallurgical purposes into the carbonaceous rocks and noncarbonaceous, or dacitic, rocks. In logging, the rocks are further divided into brecciated and nonbrecciated varieties. The carbonaceous rocks contain more total organic carbon, which interferes with cyanide leach gold recovery and requires special processing.
Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 26.68-million tonnes, grading 1.42 g/t gold.
Resources: Total indicated resources as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 12.45-million tonnes, grading 1.95 g/t gold.
Total inferred resources as at December 31, 2016, were estimated at 5.90-million tonnes, grading 2.07 g/t gold.
Mining Method: Santa Luz will be a conventional truck-and-shovel openpit mining operation.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The mine includes mine working and equipment. A 7 400 t/d processing plant and a tailings storage facility with capacity of 2.8-million cubic metres.
water is sourced from the Itapicurú river and electricity from a 138 KV power line that extends from the Coelba power station to the main substation at the Santa Luz plant site.
Prospects: Santa Luz mine is in the execution phase, with the project expected to start operations in the first half of 2018. Engineering is near completion and the ordering of long-lead items is under way.
Contact: Brio Gold investor relations.
Contact Details:
Brio Gold
Tel +1 416 860 6310
Email info@briogoldinc.com
Website http://briogoldinc.com/company/about_brio_gold