The Serra Sul Mining Complex is located in the north of Brazil. The property consists of orebody S11, subdivided on A, B, C, and D. Current production activities are in the S11D mine and the mineral reserves and mineral resources are defined only for the orebodies C and D.
Serra Sul has mined by open pit with berms and benches and uses large truck, shovel equipment and also In Pit Crusher Conveyor (IPCC) mining method.
The mine design includes benches 15 m high, berms 15 m wide, bench face angles from 50 to 85 degrees, according to the lithology in the mine. Ramp access is 40m width with 10% gradient.
The mining method at Serra Sul is open pit. Materials that require drilling and blasting and whose geometry does not favor to IPCC, are mined by normal truck and shovel, otherwise IPCC mining method is applied.
The movement of material is done by electric cable and/or hydraulic excavators into mobile crushers. The mobile crushing plants are equipped with a “sizer” (friable materials) or jaws crushers (compact material). Once the particle is reduced to the appropriate size for the conveyor belt, both the ore and the waste are sent to a transfer house where the conveyors are provided with a mobile head and adjust to transfer the ore onto a belt that takes it to a stockpile and the waste to another belt that sends to spreaders, which build the waste dumps.
Production is carried out by the company´s mine personnel, while contra ........
