The mineralization at the Pilar Mine is hosted by a number of the host rock units including the BIFs along with mafic schists and talc-chlorite schists. Gold mineralization is associated with sulphide mineralization consisting of arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite. Quartz veins and veinlets can also be present, but the presence of quartz is not a prerequisite for higher gold values. The sulphide minerals occur mostly as disseminations in the host rock, but can achieve semimassive to massive concentrations locally over a few tens of centimetres. Quartz veins are typically less than one metre in width and can be observed to be of two generations. The quartz veins of the first generation are typically associated with the gold mineralization and are folded. The quartz veins of the second generation are typically lower grade or barren and not affected by folding.

The SW Orebody is hosted by iron formation of the Santa Quitéria Unit. The remaining mineralized lenses are hosted by the mafic and ultramafic schists of the Ouro Fino and Morro Vermelho Units.

At Pilar Mine, gold mineralization is contained within a shear zone with an average 50o to 60o dip. The mineralization is structurally complex due to intense folding and displacements (up to one metre) due to local faulting. This results in direction changes and pinching and swelling of the vein over relatively short distances. The ore zone hanging wall (HW) and footwall (FW) contacts are visible by eye though sampling shows that there is, on occasion, an assay wall within the formation. The orebody is approximately 250 m to 350 m along strike and the orebody is mined along strike access via cross cuts perpendicular to the orebody.

The Caeté Gold Mining Complex has two underground mines (Pilar and Roça Grande). Pilar primarily uses sub-level open stoping with backfill, while Roça Grande (“RG”) exclusively uses the mechanized horizontal cut and fill mining method. The Pilar mine provides 1,000 tonnes per day, or two-thirds of the Caeté complex ore, while the RG mine provides 500 tonnes per day from the underground RG-1 deposit.

The Caeté processing plant has a design capacity of 720,000 tpa of run-of-mine (ROM) ore. In 2015, the plant processed feed from the Pilar and Roça Grande mines.

The process flowsheet primarily consists of the following unit steps:
- Crushing
- Grinding
- Gravity Gold Recovery
- Flotation
- Leaching & Carbon-in-Pulp
- Gold Recovery
- Detoxification
- Tailings