The Canadian Malartic property straddles the southern margin of the eastern portion of the Abitibi Subprovince, an Archean greenstone belt situated in the southeastern part of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. The Abitibi Subprovince is limited to the north by gneisses and plutons of the Opatica Subprovince, and to the south by metasediments and intrusive rocks of the Pontiac Subprovince. The contact between the Pontiac Subprovince and the rocks of the Abitibi greenstone belt is characterized by a major fault corridor, the east-west trending Larder Lake – Cadillac Fault Zone (‘‘LLCFZ’’). This structure runs from Larder Lake, Ontario through Rouyn-Noranda, Cadillac, Malartic, Val d’Or and Louvicourt, Quebec, at which point it is truncated by the Grenville Front.
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The regional stratigraphy of the southeastern Abitibi area is divided into groups of alternating volcanic and sedimentary rocks, generally oriented at N280 – N330 and separated by fault zones. The main lithostratigraphic divisions in this region are, from south to north, the Pontiac Group of the Pontiac Subprovince and the Piche, Cadillac, Blake River, Kewagama and Malartic groups of the Abitibi Subprovince. The various lithological groups within the Abitibi Subprovince are metamorphosed to greenschist facies. Metamorphic grade increases toward the southern limit of the Abitibi belt, where rocks of the Piche Group and the northern part of the Pontiac Group have been metamorphosed to upper greenschist facies.

The majority of the Canadian Malartic property is underlain by metasedimentary units of the Pontiac Group, lying immediately south of the LLCFZ. The north-central portion of the property covers an approximately 9.5 kilometre section of the LLCFZ corridor and is underlain by mafic-ultramafic metavolcanic rocks of the Piche Group cut by intermediate porphyritic and mafic intrusions. The Cadillac Group covers the northern part of the property (north of the LLCFZ). It consists of greywacke containing lenses of conglomerate.

Mineralization
Surface drilling by Lac Minerals Ltd. in the 1980s defined several near-surface mineralized zones now included in the Canadian Malartic deposit (the F, P, A, Wolfe and Gilbert zones), all expressions of a larger, continuous mineralized system located at depth around the historical underground workings of the Canadian Malartic and Sladen mines. In addition to these, the Western Porphyry Zone occurs one kilometre northeast of the main Canadian Malartic deposit and the Gouldie mineralized zone occurs approximately 1.2 kilometres southeast of the main Canadian Malartic deposit. Approximately 1.5 kilometres to the east is the Odyssey deposit, with mineralization associated with a fault along both hanging wall and footwall contacts of a 300 metre wide dioritic intrusive.

Mineralization in the Canadian Malartic deposit occurs as a continuous shell of 1% to 5% disseminated pyrite associated with fine native gold and traces of chalcopyrite, sphalerite and tellurides. The gold mineral resource is mostly hosted by altered clastic sediments of the Pontiac Group (70%) overlying an epizonal dioritic porphyry intrusion. A portion of the deposit also occurs in the upper portions of the porphyry body (30%).

The South Barnat deposit is located to the north and south of the old South Barnat and East Malartic mine workings, largely along the southern edge of the LLCFZ. The disseminated/stockwork gold mineralization at South Barnat is hosted both in potassic-altered, silicified greywackes of the Pontiac Group (south of the fault contact) and in potassic-altered porphyry dykes and schistose, carbonatized and biotitic ultramafic rocks (north of the fault contact). The East Gouldie Zone, discovered in late 2018, is included in the Pontiac sedimentary sequence, south of the Larder-Lake Cadillac Deformation Zone. The gold mineralization is associated within a shear zone accompanied by silica alteration and very fine disseminated pyrite of 1% to 2%.

Several mineralized zones have been documented within the LLCFZ (South Barnat, Buckshot, East Malartic, Jeffrey, Odyssey, East Amphi, Fourax), most of which are generally spatially associated with stockworks and disseminations within mafic or intermediate porphyritic intrusions.

Mining at the Canadian Malartic mine is by open pit method with excavators and trucks, using large scale equipment. The primary loading tools are hydraulic excavators, with wheel loaders used as a secondary loading tool. The mine production schedule was developed to feed the mill at a nominal rate of 55,000 tonnes per day. The continuity and consistency of the mineralization, coupled with tight definition drilling, that has been confirmed by many years of mining operations, demonstrates the amenability of the mineral reserves and mineral resources to the selected mining method.

Ore is processed at the Canadian Malartic mineral processing complex, which has a 55,000-tonnes/day nominal throughput capacity. Ore is transported to a crushing circuit and the crushed ore is stockpiled in a covered pile, then conveyed to the semi-autogenous grinding circuit followed by three identical ball mills, each in closed circuit with hydro-cyclones.

Ore is processed at the Canadian Malartic mineral processing complex, which has a 55,000-tonnes/day nominal throughput capacity. Ore is transported to a crushing circuit and the crushed ore is stockpiled in a covered pile, then conveyed to the semi-autogenous grinding circuit followed by three identical ball mills, each in closed circuit with hydro-cyclones. The slurry is thickened to about 50% solids before being fed to the leach tank circuit for conventional cyanidation followed by carbon-in-pulp processing technology. The product is doré bars containing gold and silver.

To reduce the environmental impact, tailings are thickened and detoxified prior to being pumped to a tailings impoundment facility. Excess water is mainly re-used in the plant or treated prior to being discharged to the receiving environment.