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 the Piaba underground deposit 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 of Genipapo South will start in 2024 and then move to Genipapo North in 2028.

Latest Developments
Equinox has said that it will initiate permitting for an exploration portal, undertake some underground-focused exploration and continue to advance in-house studies pertaining to the expansion in 2022.

Development work to access the underground deposit could start in late 2022, the company reported in January 2022.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

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