Caeté Complex

The Caeté Complex includes the Pilar gold mine, the Caeté processing plant and the Roça Grande gold mine, which was placed on care and maintenance in 2018. The Caeté mining complex is located 50 kilometers east of the city of Belo Horizonte.

Pilar Mine

Pilar is an underground mine that predominantly utilizes sub-level stoping as a mining method. Backfilling is completed using loose rockfill. The main ore block is in a fold structure of banded iron formation and has been developed to the 16 level and appears to extend to depth. This area provides the majority of the mine’s production, with 15% to 25% of production provided by the Southwest Zone from higher levels in the mine (ranging from levels 2 through 9). 

Ore from Pilar is processed at the 2,200 tonnes-per-day Caeté processing plant, which is located approximately 40 kilometres from Pilar. The plant utilizes gravity recovery which recovers about 50% of the contained gold, followed by a flotation circuit and subsequent leaching in a carbon-in-pulp circuit. Historic total recoveries have typically ranged between 85% to 90% of contained gold. The plant has excess capacity for additional feed. The non-sulfide tails (from the flotation circuit) are dry-stacked, and CIP tails are filtered and hauled to the Moita Tailings Dam, as part of Moita’s decommissioning process.

Roça Grande Mine

The Roça Grande gold mine was placed on care and maintenance in March 2018. The mine is located 40 kilometres by road from the Caeté plant.

Pilar Mine

Pacheca Geophysics Survey