The Canadian Malartic deposit is an Archean porphyry gold system, consisting of a widespread shell of disseminated gold-bearing pyrite mineralization hosted by diorite porphyry and altered Pontiac Group metasediments. Drilling and compilation work has outlined a gold mineralized system measuring 1.9 kilometres by 350 metres, with a variable true thickness ranging from 40 to 270 metres to a vertical depth of 410 metres from surface. The system is open to the west and to the south at depth.

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 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).

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 done by open pit method using excavators and trucks. In order to maximize productivity and limit the number of units operating in the pit, large scale equipment was selected for the mine operation. 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, and confirmed by seven years of mining operations, demonstrate the amenability of the mineral reserves and mineral resources to the selected mining method.

Access to the pit is via a 8%-10% decline ramp designed with a width of 35 metres to accommodate the haul trucks. The average strip ratio of the Canadian Malartic pit is 1.78:1 (waste:ore). The final Canadian Malartic pit will measure 3,000 metres along strike and 920 metres wide, with a final depth of 430 metres. Loading of waste and ore is currently done by three Cat 6060 28-m3 electric-driven hydraulic shovels and one Cat 6050 26-m3 backhoe complemented by two L-1850 LeTourneau wheel loaders and a Cat 994 wheel loader, and transported by Cat 793F 217-tonne class rigid trucks. The haulage fleet will increase over time from the original 12 to 28 units as the haulage distance increases. Since start-up, mining activities have been hampered by the need to limit noise levels from the mining operations; this has resulted in the addition of smaller mobile equipment units and the installation of noise-suppression equipment on the larger vehicles. Roadway watering is used to reduce dust and improve the air quality.

Ore is processed at the Canadian Malartic mineral processing complex, which has a nominal 55,000-tonnes/day throughput capacity based on 92% plant availability. Run-of-mine ore is transported to a crushing circuit composed of a gyratory crusher that feeds two cone crushers. 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 hydrocyclones. Two pebble crushers handle the oversize material from the SAG mill. 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.