Mining activities are under way at Equinox Gold’s new Santa Luz gold mine in Brazil. Construction remains on track to commence commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2021 with gold pour during the first quarter of 2022. The company expects to produce 110,000 ounces (oz) of gold annually for the first five years of operations.
The mining contractor, U&M Mineração e Construção S/A (U&M), mobilized to the site in May and mining commenced in mid-June. Mining activities are currently focused on removing waste from two locations and developing access roads, ramps, dumps and ore storage areas in preparation for a pre-stripping campaign prior to mining ore in late 2021. To make room for mine expansion, U&M is also relocating an existing ore stockpile with an average grade of 0.9 grams of gold per metric ton (g/mt), which will be used for commissioning activities in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Construction is on schedule and on budget, with approximately $31 million of the $103 million construction budget spent and $70 million committed at the end of June. As a brownfield past-producing mine, the majority of site services and infrastructure were already in place. Restart activities are focused on refurbishing existing infrastructure, retrofitting the plant to incorporate resin-in-leach processing, installation of additional grinding infrastructure, and increasing the storage capacities of the existing tailings and water storage facilities. A significant construction milestone was achieved on June 25 with installation of the first segment of the ball mill.
