Cerro Moro is located within the Deseado Massif, a tectonic block in the central portion of the Santa Cruz Province that covers an area of approximately 60,000 square kilometres. The Deseado Massif is host to several producing and past-producing gold and silver mines, all of the low-sulphidation gold-silver quartz vein deposit type. This deposit type is characterized by quartz veins, stockworks, and breccias that contain gold, silver, electrum, argentite, and pyrite with lesser and variable amounts of sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, rare tetrahedrite and sulphosalt minerals that form in high-level (epizonal) to near-surface environments.

The Cerro Moro property is underlain by Tertiary marine sediments, Quaternary gravels and volcanic rocks of Jurassic age assigned to the Bahía Laura Group by Panza et al. (1994).

The current distribution of rock units is strongly controlled by faulting. Stratified rocks generally dip gently to the south but are displaced along numerous faults. Actual displacement vectors on faults are poorly defined and structural observations of veins and fault surfaces show a complex history, with reactivation of fault surfaces showing different displacement vectors during different periods of deformation and resultant mineralization.

Gold-silver mineralization at Cerro Moro is associated with epithermal veins. Geological mapping and ArAr age dating on vein adularia have defined at least three episodes of veining, spread o ........

Cerro Moro consists of several open pit and underground mines which feed a single processing plant with a throughput capacity of approximately 1,000 tpd.

Production from mines located close to the Run of mine (ROM) pad is hauled directly from the mine. For mines located at greater distances, ore is hauled to a stockpile located close to the portal or pit and then hauled to the ROM pad in hauling campaigns.

Open pit operations are currently carried out by a contractor. The average production rate is of approximately 600 tpd of ore and 16,000 tpd waste. However, production from the open pits will gradually reduce as Cerro Moro transitions to increased production from the underground mines. There are typically two to four pits in operation at any one time. The open pit mining sequence consists of first pre-splitting both sides of the vein with holes spaced every 1 meter apart. Then, from the ramp access, waste polygons on the hangingwall side of the vein are mined to create a free face for the vein. Once the vein is fully exposed, the vein is blasted and mined separately to minimize dilution. Once the vein is completely extracted, the remaining waste polygons on the footwall are extracted.

Underground mining at Cerro Moro is carried out using longitidinal long-hole stoping methods. Two variations of long-hole stoping will be employed; bench-and-fill (at Escondida, Martina, and Zoe), and uphole retreat (at Gabriela). Both methods involve ore devel ........

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