The Almas Project three main gold deposits, Paiol, Cata Funda and Vira Saia are along a 15 km long corridor of the Almas Greenstone Belt, a Paleoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence which hosts numerous orogenic gold occurrences.

The known gold occurrences in the Almas area are classified as orogenic, shear-hosted mesothermal gold deposits. Minor occurrences of lateritic or even placer gold are also found in the area, but are typically small and not the target of current exploration.

The Cata Funda - Paiol Trend is a structural domain within the Almas volcano-sedimentary sequence that contains the primary and secondary gold targets. The Paiol and Cata-Funda deposits have many similarities with respect to mineralization type, geometry and lithologies, although some distinctive characteristics are
noted.

The Paiol deposit is located in the middle portion of the Almas Belt, approximately 500m east of the metabasalt/intrusive contact. The metabasalts that host mineralization display a primary foliation of 280° azimuth with a 65° dip. The mineralization is a result of hydrothermal alteration processes controlled by shear zones. Based on the drilling data, the altered rocks form a trend at least 1400m long, varying from 40m to 140m wide from south to north, respectively.

The mineralization is continuous and confined to certain parts of the hydrothermal alteration package. The higher potential of the deposit is located in the north-central part of the ore body where an intersection between the main shear zone and a secondary north-south shear zone has been interpreted.

The main Paiol ore body has overall dimensions of approximately 650m in the down dip direction, 1,250m along strike and averages 27m thick.

The Cata Funda deposit is situated in the northern portion of the Almas Greenstone Belt, immediately southeast of the Almas town site. The deposit is hosted in metabasic and metasedimentary rocks that display hydrothermal alteration processes as sericitization, carbonization, albitization and silicification. Host rocks are in contact with siliceous breccias and quartz-carbonate schists to the west and with tourmaline-bearing quartzites and metapelites of the Morro do Carneiro Formation to the northeast.

The gold mineralization occurs primarily in the central portion of the structure which displays zoned alteration assemblages like that previously described for the Paiol deposit.

The Cata Funda ore body has overall dimensions of approximately 240m in the down dip direction, 230m along strike and averages 10m thick.

The Vira Saia deposit is hosted in the granitic gneiss complex. These complexes are composed of isotropic to weakly-foliated granitoid plutons which have been variably classified as tonalites, trondhjemites, granodiorites, quartz monzonites, amphibole-quartz diorite and monzogranites. A second granitoid suite composed of the same lithologies but containing biotite as the primary mafic mineral, is recognized in the region.

At Vira Saia, a shear zone (N45°W) developed in granodiorite controls brecciation, alteration and gold mineralization.

The main Vira-Saia ore body has overall dimensions of approximately 200m in the down-dip direction, 300m along strike and averages 15m thick. Exploration has also identified three smaller ore bodies designated: East Body, NW Body and NW Extension Body.

At Vira Saia gold is closely associated with sulfide-bearing, quartz-sericite rich ultramylonites formed in the core of shear zones developed in granodiorite. Chalcopyrite and galena are very rare. Intensity of the hydrothermal alteration is proportional to the progressive deformation in the shear zone. Quartz veins typically have saccaroidal (sugary) textures, believed to have formed by dynamic crystallization in shear zones, suggesting a syntectonic timing of vein formation.

The Almas Gold project is planned to consist of three open pit operations which will utilize a combination of hydraulic excavators, large front end loaders and 35-tonne haul trucks as the primary mining equipment.

The project mine plan targets the mining of ore by open pit mining methods. Given that the waste material is more homogeneous, compact, and easier to drill and blast than the ore material, the equipment mining efficiency rate will be higher in waste material. The mine schedule resulted in an average production rate of 2.0 Mt of run-ofmine (ROM) hard-rock ore at 0.86 grams per tonne ex-pit and 132 Mt of waste over the 15 year life of the project. The mining schedule is based on an annual 12 months of operation.

The road design parameters for all deposits included a 10 percent grade and 12 and 15 meter wide access ramps. The ramps will have protective side berms whose height equals half that of the truck’s tire diameter. A minimum width between haul trucks travelling on same haul road is 3.5 times the truck width, as per standard global mining operations.

The process plant is designed to treat 2 Mt of ore per annum from the Almas district deposits. It consists of the following areas:
- crushing and ore stockpiling
- grinding
- gravity concentration
- thickening
- carbon in leach (CIL)
- acid wash
- elution
- electrowinning and smelting
- carbon regeneration
- cyanide destruction
- reagent preparation.

The crushing plant is designed to treat the ore at a rate of 312 t/h solids with 5% moisture, yielding a P80 of 6.71 mm. The crushing system will consist of a primary jaw crusher operating in open circuit, one secondary crusher operating in closed circuit, and two parallel tertiary crushers operating in closed circuit. The plant will have a nominal operation of operate 6,570 h/a (equivalent to 18 h/d).

The run-of-mine ore (ROM) will be fed to the crushing plant either by direct dumping into the ROM dump hopper from haul trucks (40 t capacity each) or by front-end ........