Mineralization at the Santa Luz Project is consistent with an orogenic gold deposit type. Orogenic gold deposits are distributed along major compressional to transpressional crustal-scale fault zones, in deformed greenstone terranes commonly marking the convergent margins between major lithological domains, such as volcano-plutonic and sedimentary domains.

In the Project area, gold deposits are hosted within the Paleoproterozoic aged Rio Itapicurú Greenstone Belt (RIGB), which was deformed and metamorphosed during the Trans-Amazon Orogeny (approximately 2 Ga). Gold mineralization mainly occurs with fault-related quartz-sulphide and quartz-carbonate-sulphide veining and quartz-sulphide breccia. Alteration includes sericitization, carbonate alteration, albitization, sulphidation, and silicification.

Gold deposits and prospects in the Project area occur in silicified breccia zones at or proximal to the faulted contact of the volcanic and sedimentary domains of the RIGB. Significant gold targets and deposits in the Santa Luz trend include the C1 (formally called Maria Preta and including Antas 1), Antas 2, Antas 3, the Mansinha Trend (South, including M11 and M3-M4, and North, including M16 and M17), and the Mari Deposit.

The C1, Antas 2, Antas 3, Mansinha South (including the M11 and M3-M4 zones), Mansinha North (including the M16 and M17 zones), and Mari deposits are hosted in a set of three parallel, gently to moderately dipping, reverse and/o ........

Santa Luz project is based on open pit mining with production from three pits: one pit at the C1 deposit and two small pits at the Antas 3 deposit. Pit bench heights will be 10 m and be mined in two 5 m flitches with a safety berm every 10 m. The ore and waste rock will be drilled and blasted, loaded with front end loaders, and hauled to either a crusher or waste rock dump. Haulage distances from the open pit to the crusher area will vary, with an average haul distance of approximately 3.9 km for C1 and 2.5 km for Antas 3. Mining will be carried out by contractors and mine technical services will be provided by Santa Luz personnel.

The mine will operate on a general production schedule of 24 h/d, 7 d/wk. The LOM is nine years for C1, and six years for Antas 3. The average mining rate will be approximately 15.3 Mt/a and the maximum mining rate will be approximately 22.0 Mt/a of ore and waste mined including some overlap of mining between deposits. The LOM is estimated to be 9.5 years, including 1.5 years of post-production processing of stockpiles.

The dimensions of the loaders, haul trucks, and excavators were evaluated to define the minimum mining width and ramp design. Ramp road grades were limited to 10% or less. Road widths were designed to be approximately 25 m wide from toe to crest for the C1 and Antes 3 deposits, with exception to single lanes used for mining the last benches.

A minimum mining width of 20 m was used for the pit desig ........

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Water for use on the Project site is sourced from the Itapicurú River, the main drainage system in the area, at a rate of 1.17 Mm3 /a. The water supply infrastructure includes an intake structure and pumps at the river. There are 3.9 Mm3 of water stored in the C1 pit that will be transferred to the WSF (formerly the leach TSF), the Antas 3 pit, and the former flotation TSF. Most of the current waterstorage came from water abstraction in the Itapicurú River during 2018 and 2019.

The water is required to provide make-up water for the processing plant and for dust suppression of the mine roads. All raw water for the operation will be pumped from the Rio Itapicurú (which runs west–east on the northern boundary of the property) at a maximum rate of 500 m3 /h, and a maximum withdraw amount of 1.17 Mm3 /a. The amount of water in the Rio Itapicurú is strongly seasonal and can be erratic. Due to environmental obligations, water can be collected only in January, and from March to August. In the other months of the year, there will be no withdraw allowed from the river. Because of the seasonality and erratic fluctuation of water availability in the Rio Itapicurú, it is necessary to build up an inventory of water to last through the dry season.

There are also fourteen additional deep wells, with intake capacities ranging from 152 m³/d to 1,471 m³/d, as approved by the local environmental agency, Instituto do Meio Ambiente e Recursos Hidricos (INEMA). Well water will be treated and used for resin elution, amounting to approximately 27,000 m³/a.

Santa Luz has a total waterstorage of approximately 3.9 Mm³, which allows a safe operation from a water supply perspective, considering the expected annual process water consumption of approximately 1 Mm³/a. Potable water will be supplied by a contract with Empresa Baiana de Águas e Saneamento S.A. (EMBASA)—Bahia’ state water utility—amounting to approximately 30 m³/wk.