Fazenda Gold Mine
Producing gold in Brazil
Fazenda has been operating for nearly 40 years as both an underground and open pit mine.
Snapshot
Ownership
100%
Location
Bahia, Brazil
2024 Production1
65,000-70,000 oz gold
2024 Costs1
$1,560-$1,660 per oz AISC
Reserves
763 Koz @ 1.80 g/t gold
M&I Resources2
1,524 Koz @ 2.21 g/t gold
Mining and processing
Underground and open pit / CIL plant
Estimated mine life
~5 years with existing reserves
1. Guidance released August 7, 2024.
2. M&I Mineral Resources are exclusive of Mineral Reserves. See Operations / Reserves & Resources and Cautionary Notes.
Overview
Fazenda is located within the Maria Preta mining district in Bahia State, Brazil, about 180 km northwest of the state capital city of Salvador and only 55 km southeast of Equinox Gold’s Santa Luz mine. Equinox Gold assumed ownership of Fazenda in March 2020 with its acquisition of Leagold Mining.
Fazenda has been in operation for nearly 40 years and has produced more than 3.3 million ounces of gold to date. Open pit mining and heap leaching began in 1984 and transitioned to underground mining with a carbon-in-pulp plant in 1988 (which was subsequently converted to carbon-in-leach in 1992). Today the mine is primarily an underground operation complemented with some small open pits.
Production at Fazenda in 2024 is forecast at 65,000 to 70,000 ounces of gold with all-in sustaining costs between $1,560 to $1,660 per ounce of gold sold. Sustaining capital of $14 million is budgeted for underground development, open-pit waste stripping, a tailings facility raise and fleet and infrastructure improvements. Non-sustaining capital of $12 million is primarily for exploration and underground development.
Operating Data
| 2023 Actuals | 2022 Actuals | 2021 Actuals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold produced (oz) | 66,375 | 65,641 | 60,401 |
| Cash costs ($/oz) | 1,230 | 1,047 | 875 |
| AISC ($/oz) | 1,448 | 1,215 | 1,159 |
| Sustaining capital ($M) | 12 | 9 | 15 |
| Growth capital ($M) | 12 | 8 | 6 |
Mining and Processing
The majority of mill feed (~75%) is from underground mining, with the remainder coming from a series of small open pits. Underground mining is owner-operated via five declines along an estimated 6 km strike of the mineralized trend. The underground mining rate is up to 3,800 tonnes per day which provides for approximately five years of underground production based on existing Mineral Reserves. The Company expects to extend the underground mine life with recent exploration activities and has successfully replaced the Mineral Reserves for the past five years.
Open pit mining is performed by a mining contractor with conventional truck and shovel operations. The average mining rate is approximately 4.6 million tonnes per year with a strip ratio averaging 9:1 (waste:ore). Existing Mineral Reserves support a five-year open pit mine life, with the potential for mine life extension by mining the crown pillar in a number of ore bodies.
Ore is delivered to a 3,780 tonnes-per-day crushing and grinding circuit and processed with gravity concentration and a standard carbon-in-leach plant. Gold recovery averages more than 90%.
Tailings and Waste Management
Two core elements of our responsible mining strategy are to protect the health and safety of our workforce and local communities, and to minimize and mitigate our impact on the environment. That includes ensuring mine waste, such as waste rock and tailings, is safely managed, and that all of our waste rock and tailings storage facilities (TSFs) are properly designed, physically and chemically stable for long-term storage, and routinely inspected and audited.
Brazilian Law 12,334/2010 establishes the National Dam Safety Policy. As outlined in Article 12, paragraph 1 (amended by Law 14,066/2020), companies responsible for dams are required to make their Emergency Action Plan publicly available on their websites. This regulation ensures that local communities, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders have access to essential information about emergency response actions. In compliance with this legal requirement, the Emergency Action Plans for Tailings Dams for Equinox Gold’s Mineração Riacho dos Machados (RDM Mine), Santa Luz Desenvolvimento Mineral (Santa Luz Mine), Fazenda Brasileiro Desenvolvimento Mineral (Fazenda Mine), and Mineração Aurizona (Aurizona Mine) are posted below for public review. The Emergency Action Plans are posted in Portuguese, the language of the local communities for whom the Emergency Action Plans are relevant.
A legislação brasileira nº 12.334/2010, que define a Política Nacional de Segurança de Barragens, determina (artigo 12, parágrafo 1º – alterado pela Lei nº 14.066/2020), que o Plano de Ação de Emergência (PAE) deve estar disponível no website da empresa responsável pela barragem, acessível ao público. Essa normativa visa garantir que as comunidades locais, órgãos fiscalizadores e demais partes interessadas tenham acesso direto e compreensível às informações relacionadas às ações de resposta em situações de emergência.
Em atendimento a essa exigência, os Planos de Ação de Emergência para Barragem de Mineração – PAEBM’s das barragens da Mineração Riacho dos Machados (RDM), Santa Luz Desenvolvimento Mineral (Santa Luz), Fazenda Brasileiro Desenvolvimento Mineral (Fazenda) e Mineração Aurizona (Aurizona) estão disponíveis em língua portuguesa para consulta dos interessados. Os Planos de Ação de Emergência são publicados em português, o idioma das comunidades locais para as quais os Planos de Ação de Emergência são relevantes.
Download the Emergency Action PlanExploration and Geology
Fazenda is located within the Rio Itapicurú Greenstone Belt, a 100 km long and 60 km wide north-south trending volcanic-sedimentary belt situated within the São Francisco Craton. Fazenda is an epigenetic, structurally controlled, and hydrothermally altered Precambrian quartz vein hosted lode gold deposit that has been subjected to greenschist facies metamorphism. The main mineralization is in the form of sulphide-bearing quartz veining, and these multiple vein systems vary in true width from 1.5 to 40 metres.
Drilling has successfully converted Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves for the past five years. Underground exploration opportunities exist in large gaps in historical drilling, and gold mineralization remains open along strike to the east and west. In 2021, Equinox Gold delineated Mineral Reserves in the Canto 2 open pit deposit that will be incorporated into the Fazenda mine plan in 2023. In January 2025, Equinox Gold updated the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource estimate for Fazenda, extending the mine life to 2033 and highlighting a 142% increase in Mineral Reserves compared to the previous estimate.
In addition, ongoing exploration in the Bahia District along the 70 km long greenstone belt that hosts Equinox Gold’s Fazenda and Santa Luz mines, has identified the potential to establish a mining district with the opportunity to truck mineralization to either Fazenda or Santa Luz for processing, based on the ore’s metallurgical characteristics.