Mining Intelligence and News
Brazil

Pau-a-Pique Mine

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeUnderground
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Avoca
  • Blast Hole Stoping
Backfill type ... Lock
Production Start... Lock
SnapshotUnderground Pau-a-Pique deposit is a part of Apoena (EPP) mining complex.

The Pau-a-Pique underground mine, shutdown and under maintenance since October 2022.
Related AssetApoena (EPP) Complex

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Aura Minerals Inc. 100 % Indirect
Mineracao Apoena Limitada (operator) 100 % Direct
The EPP Project is 100% beneficially owned by Aura. Mineração Apoena S.A (“Apoena”), a company wholly owned by Aura.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Hydrothermal
  • Vein / narrow vein

Summary:

The Pau-a-Pique deposit is hosted by a mica-rich mylonitic zone in the sheared contact between the footwall Fortuna Formation and the hanging wall Mesoproterozoic igneous basement. The metasediments comprise metaconglomerates and arkosic metasandstones, while the basement includes diorites, tonalites, and granodiorites. These units were affected by the D2 shearing (Melo et al., 2022), and the igneous rocks were transformed into schistose layers of biotite, quartz, chlorite, muscovite, epidote, calcite, ilmenite, rutile, magnetite, apatite, and titanite. Toward the center of the shear zone, the biotite transitions into gray muscovite in zones with subsequent hydrothermal alteration and high-grade gold mineralization. The sheared metasediments in the hanging wall are described as centimetric to metric layers of muscovite with quartz, magnetite, rutile and ilmenite (Melo et al., 2022). A silicified breccia occurs to the southwest of the Pau-a-Pique orebody, with no gold mineralization. It is uncertain whether it is related to an earlier rifting-related hydrothermal event, during the deposition of the Aguapeí sediments, a late D3 event, or a later Neoproterozoic event (Melo et al., 2022). Mineralization The Pau-a-Pique ore zone is a 3- to 15-m-wide schistose layer with biotite and muscovite, along with multiple generations of quartz veins. The gold mineralization includes disseminated coarse pyrite with associated swarms of quartz veins. Gold occurs as inclusions in the pyrite and native gold within the quartz veins or disseminated in the mylonite. Gangue minerals comprise biotite, muscovite, magnetite, albite, chlorite, calcite, apatite, ilmenite, and rutile.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits20182017
Gold oz 18,0599,855
All production numbers are expressed as metal in doré.

Operational metrics

Metrics20182017
Stripping / waste ratio 0.47 0.36
Ore tonnes mined 213,731 t131,134 t
Waste 99,543 t47,431 t
Total tonnes mined 313,274 t178,565 t
Tonnes processed 212,333 t127,225 t

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20182017
Cash costs Gold USD 794 / oz   1,317 / oz  

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 10, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 10, 2024

Aerial view:

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