Los Filos Gold Mine

Overview

The Los Filos Mine Complex is located in Guerrero State, Mexico, approximately 200 km southwest of Mexico City. The current layout comprises three open pit deposits (Los Filos, Bermejal and Guadalupe), two underground deposits (Los Filos and Bermejal), and a number of heap leach pads.

Equinox Gold announced on April 1, 2025 that operations have been suspended indefinitely following the expiry of a land access agreement with the community of Carrizalillo on March 31, 2025.

Equinox Gold has been been engaged in collaborative discussions with the three communities that host the mine since November 2023. Consensus on terms was reached in January 2025, and new long-term agreements were subsequently ratified and signed with the Mezcala and Xochipala communities. To date, Carrizalillo has not signed a new long-term agreement with the Company.

Long-term agreements with all three local communities are essential to provide the economic and investment conditions necessary for continued operations at the Los Filos Mine, including the proposed construction of a new 10,000 tonnes-per-day carbon-in-leach processing plant to increase gold recoveries from higher-grade ore.

History of the Mine

Los Filos has been operating since 2008. Equinox Gold assumed ownership of the mine in March 2020 through its acquisition of Leagold Mining. Equinox Gold continued with expansion plans, including development of the Guadalupe open pit and the Bermejal underground mine, and in October 2022 announced the results of an updated feasibility study contemplating construction of a carbon-in-leach (CIL) plant to process higher-grade ore from underground and open-pit sources. Building and operating the CIL plant in conjunction with continued operation of heap leaching, as compared to a heap leach only scenario, would extend the mine life by four years and increase gold production to on average 280,000 ounces of gold per year, with peak production of more than 350,000 ounces per year. While the economic and production estimates outlined in the updated feasibility study assume construction of the CIL plant commencing in 2023, Equinox Gold has not yet approved construction and for now will continue processing all ore on the heap leach pads.