The Pau-a-Pique and Ernesto-Lavrinha Deposits are situated in the Middle Proterozoic (ca. 1.0 Ga) Aguapeí belt, a foreland fold and thrust belt that overlies the Early Proterozoic and Middle Proterozoic terrains (Geraldes et al. 2001). The Aguapeí group in the Pau-aPique and Ernesto – Lavrinha areas is structurally marked by reverse faults, isoclinal folds and strong penetrative axial planar cleavage, often crenulated.

The Aguapeí Group is composed of conglomerate, sandstone (arenite) and siltstone that are unconformably deposited on the underlying basement in a braided fluvial to marine depositional environment. The metasediments occur within a fold and thrust belt that is deformed under brittle- ductile conditions and are commonly in tectonic contact with the basement. Strong hydrothermal alteration and associated gold mineralization occurs in association with the lower contact of the Aguapeí Group with the underlying basement.

In the Ernesto Deposit, the contact zone between the Aguapeí sediments and the underlying basement tonalite consists of a 5 m to 25 m thick magnetite-sericite schist unit, containing lenses and elongated bodies of quartz generally concordant with the foliation, and a 1 m to 3 m thick basal layer of intensely altered, crushed and decomposed rock. The magnetite-sericite schist apparently represents strongly altered and deformed sediment, probably a hydrothermally altered and sheared metapelite (mylonite).

The Lavrinha ........

The Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique Mine (“EPP”, “Apoena”) – a mine complex located in the southwest of Mato Grosso state, near Pontes e Lacerda in Brazil which consists of the following gold deposits: the Lavrinha open-pit mine (“Lavrinha”), the Ernesto open-pit mine (“Ernesto”), the Pau-a-Pique underground mine (“Pau-a-Pique” or “PPQ”), the Japones open-pit mine, the Nosde open-pit mine, and the near mine open-pit prospects of Bananal North and Banal South. Ernesto Underground In December 2019, the company started mining operations at the high-grade Ernesto mine. In November 12, 2020, the Ernesto open pit mine, part of the Ernesto/Pau-a-Pique mine complex (“EPP”) declared commercial production effective October 1, 2020. The Ernesto mine, located at Pontes e Lacerda, that was first opened in 2020, was initially planned as an underground mine but is now being worked as an open-pit mine instead. Lavrinha Open Pit Approximately 1.11 Mt of ore at an average grade of 1.69 g/t Au and 14.0 Mt of waste rock will be mined from the Lavrinha open pit over a 2.5 year period. The overall strip ratio for Lavrinha is 12.6:1 with mining conducted 365 days per year by a contractor. The contract is full service and includes providing all mining equipment, drilling, blasting, loading, hauling and maintenance. Total material movement rates for the LOM range from 15,000 to 25,000 tpd. Conventional truck and hydraulic shovels will be utilized. Four excavators, supported by three front-end loaders, will l ........

- subscription is required.

- subscription is required.