The LZ5 deposit is located in the southern portion of the Archean-age Abitibi volcanic belt, within the Bousquet Formation of the Blake River Group of volcanic rocks. The deposit occurs within the east- west-trending Doyon-Bousquet-LaRonde mining camp, which includes the Mouska, Doyon, Bousquet 1, Bousquet 2 and LaRonde gold deposits. The most important regional structure is the Cadillac-Larder Lake fault zone, located approximately 2 km south of the Bousquet property.

The LaRonde deposit is a gold-rich volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit. LaRonde lenses were formed mainly by sulphide precipitation from hydrothermal fluids on the seafloor and by replacement below lenses. The stacking of the LaRonde lenses is the result of successive volcanic events, intercalated by cycles of hydrothermal activity associated with reactivation of synvolcanic faults.

The LaRonde Zone 5 horizon consists of a four-to- 30 metre thick horizon of disseminated to stringer sulphide mineralization containing 5% to 20% pyrite and traces of chalcopyrite with rare millimetre-wide grains of visible gold. The LaRonde Zone 5 horizon has a very large geological footprint and has been estimated to contain a mass of more than 26 million tonnes. The LaRonde Zone 5 horizon can be followed over 900 metres of east- west strike length over the Bousquet property and another 400 metres on the Ellison property for a total strike length of 1,300 metres. LaRonde Zone 5 has been traced vertically for almost 1,000 metres showing a steep dip to the southwest. In an enlarged area of LaRonde Zone 5, there is gold enrichment near the margins of the economic envelope. LaRonde Zone 5 includes two high grade portions named Zone 5 Footwall and Zone 5 Hanging wall.

LZ5 is mined from underground ramp access. The mining methods are longitudinal retreat with paste backfill, and transverse open stoping with paste or unconsolidated backfill. All of the ore is trucked to the surface before being trucked to the LZ5 ore processing plant. In its first year of operation, the mine achieved its designed production rate of 1,975 tonnes/day. Integration and pilot testing of automated mining equipment (two trucks and one scoop tram) will continue in 2019.

The LaRonde Zone 5 mine processing plant (previously used to process ore from Lapa) consists of a two- stage grinding circuit to reduce the granularity of the ore. The residual pulp is leached in a conventional CIL circuit to dissolve the balance of the precious metal. A carbon strip circuit recovers the gold from the carbon which is recycled to the leach circuit.