Overview

Mine Type	Open Pit
Status	Care and Maintenance
Commodities	Gold
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start	...
Snapshot	The São Francisco Gold Mine – part of Apoena (EPP) Mines, an open-pit heap leach gold mine. Mining at Sao Francisco was suspended in October 2016. Currently, the mine is in care and maintenance.

Deposit type

• Vein / narrow vein
• Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

The Sao Francisco Mine is a shear hosted lode gold deposit. It is epigenetic, structurally controlled, and composed of narrow, 1 to 5 cm wide, quartz veins containing free gold. The veins and vein systems and stockworks both parallel and crosscut the bedding planes and appear to represent separate but closely related ineralizing events.

The local rocks at the Sao Francisco Mine have been subjected to low-grade metamorphism. They consist of fine to coarsegrained meta-arenites (metamorphic sandstones), with locally reddish-coloured metapelites (metamorphic mudstones) and occasionally metaconglomerates (old pebble beds) of the Fortuna Formation, the basal unit of the Aguapeí Group. The metaconglomerates are composed of quartz pebbles and grains set in a siliceous sandy matrix. Primary sedimentary structures such as cross-bedding, graded bedding, and ripple marks are commonly observed.

Mineralization is enclosed by a hydrothermal alteration zone (“HAZ”). The HAZ occurs as a regular steeply dipping tabular zone; the depth of the HAZ has yet to be defined by drilling. Alteration associated with mineralization in the HAZ consists of silicification and occasional sericite and chlorite.

The gold occurs as free gold and frequently as coarse nuggets measuring several millimeters in diameter with the quartz, as laminations along the fracture planes, and within limonite boxwork after pyrite and arsenopyrite.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

Operational metrics

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Sep 10, 2024

Employees	Contractors	Total Workforce	Year
......	......	......	2016
......	......	......	2015