Vancouver-based Equinox Gold Corp has poured first gold at its Santa Luz mine in Brazil.
The gold was produced from Equinox's resin and elution circuit.
The mine was completed on time and on budget with no lost-time injuries, chief executive Christian Milau said.
Commissioning began in February this year, with the mine expected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold annually.
In 2022, given that first gold was only produced at the end of March, Equinox projects production to be between 70,000 ounces and 90,000 ounces of gold.
Santa Luz has expansion possibilities from underground development, as well as several exploration targets within the greenstone belt that extends between the Santa Luz and Fernanda mines.
Santa Luz is Equinox's second gold mine, the first being Aurizona, which poured its first gold in May 2019.
Equinox will now focus its attention on its Greenstone gold project in Ontario, Canada. The company is targeting its first gold pour at the Ontario project for the first half of 2024, Milau said.
Santa Luz has measured and indicated resources of 1.97 million ounces at 1.54 g/t of gold. Inferred resources amount to 0.5 million ounces at 2.09 g/t of gold.
At the company's RDM mine in Brazil, production at the plant was halted on February 26 until March 14. Equinox Gold needed to reduce water levels in its tailings storage facility to comply with a legislative change in February this year.
Workers continued to mine and stockpile ore during the suspension of the plant.
