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About Equinox Gold
Equinox Gold Corp. (Equinox Gold) operates as a growth-focused mining company.
The company is delivering on its strategy of becoming The Premier Americas Gold Producer. The company is principally engaged in the operation, development and exploration of gold projects. The company operates entirely in the Americas, with one project in Canada, two mines in the United States, two mines in Mexico and four mines in Brazil.
Equinox Gold’s material producing assets are Mesquite and Castle Mountain in California State, U.S.A., Los Filos in Guerrero State, Mexico, Aurizona in Maranhão State, Brazil, and Fazenda and Santa Luz in Bahia State, Brazil. Greenstone in Ontario, Canada is in construction and is also a material asset. The company holds a 60% interest in Greenstone, with the remaining 40% held by an affiliate of Orion Mine Finance Group (Orion). The other Equinox Gold Projects are all 100% owned by the company. Equinox Gold also has 100% ownership of the RDM Mine (RDM) in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. RDM is a producing mine but is not considered a material project for Equinox Gold.
Equinox Gold’s principal product is gold doré. The principal buyers of gold doré produced from Equinox Gold’s mines, once refined, are international bullion banks, traders and refiners themselves.
Mesquite is a run-of-mine (ROM) heap leach gold mine located in California, U.S.A. Mesquite has produced more than 5 million ounces of gold since commencing operations in 1986. Equinox Gold acquired the project from New Gold on October 30, 2018. The mineral rights at Mesquite consist of 265 unpatented and 53 patented mining lode claims, 97 unpatented and 122 patented mill site claims, 658 acres of California State leased land, and a lease of a portion of the 4,275 acres of adjacent private land owned by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District (LACSD).
Castle Mountain is a ROM heap leach gold mine located in California, U.S.A. The company completed a feasibility study for the Phase 2 expansion in March 2021, outlining plans to extend the mine life and expand production to more than 200,000 ounces of gold annually. In March 2022, the company applied to amend existing permits to accommodate the Phase 2 expansion. The Castle Mountain property includes eight patented claims and 1,226 unpatented lode, placer and mill site claims. Exploration in 2022 included 7,919 m (213 holes) of RC drilling at the South Dump and 1,448 m (4 holes) of RC drilling testing the north side of the South Dome deposit area. Castle Mountain produced a total of 23,227 ounces of gold during 2022.
The Los Filos Mine Complex in Guerrero State, Mexico comprises three open pits, Los Filos, Guadalupe and Bermejal, and two underground mines, Los Filos and Bermejal. The Los Filos Mine Complex encompasses the three main open pit mining areas of Bermejal, Guadalupe, and Los Filos, as well as three underground mines of Los Filos South, Los Filos North (together with Los Filos South, called Los Filos Underground) and Bermejal Underground. The Los Filos Mine Complex consists of 30 exploitation and exploration concessions in active mining areas totalling 10,433 ha in the Eduardo Neri District, Guerrero State, Mexico approximately 180 km southwest of Mexico City. Los Filos produced a total of 133,723 ounces of gold during 2022.
Aurizona Gold Mine is an operating open-pit mine and processing plant located in Maranhão State, Brazil. Aurizona is located in the state of Maranhão in northeastern Brazil between the cities of São Luis and Belém. Aurizona includes one active mining license totaling 9,982 ha, one mining license application totaling 5,029 hectares (ha), and eleven exploration licenses totaling approximately 92,012 ha for a total land package of approximately 107,023 ha of the eleven exploration licenses. Four of the exploration licenses are in good standing and expire on August 01, 2024 and seven are under application for extension.
All thirteen licenses are 100% held by Equinox Gold via its wholly owned subsidiaries Mineração Aurizona S.A. (MASA) and Luna Gold Pesquisa Mineral LTDA (Luna Gold). The Piaba and Boa Esperança deposits, as well as several near mine exploration targets, are covered by the mining licence. The mining license application covers Tatajuba; Genipapo and Touro deposits are covered by explorations licences with Positive Final Exploration Reports protocolled with ANM. Equinox Gold, through MASA, owns all surface rights required for the operation of Aurizona.
Fazenda is primarily an underground mining operation located in Bahia State, Brazil. Equinox Gold owns 100% of the mineral licenses through its indirect wholly owned subsidiary Fazenda Brasileiro Desenvolvimento Mineral Ltda. Fazenda covers an area totaling 58,651 ha, including 28 exploration licenses (33,522 ha), 15 exploration applications (12,909), 8 mining permits (7,732 ha), 3 mining permits in application (2,556 ha), and 1 exploration licence with a Final Positive Exploration Report submitted (1,932 ha). During 2022, the company drilled 53,937 m of core focused on Mineral Reserve replacement in the immediate underground mine area and 20,465 m of surface exploration drilling. Exploration in 2023 is planned to include over 60,000 m of underground drilling and 10,000 m of surface exploration drilling. Fazenda produced a total of 65,641 ounces of gold during 2022.
Santa Luz is the restart of a past-producing open-pit mine located in Bahia State, Brazil. The Santa Luz properties cover an area totaling 48,599.25 ha, including 36 exploration permits (42,666.41 ha), six mining concessions (2,611.69 ha), and four mining concessions in application (3,321.15 ha). Of the 36 exploration permits, eight are at the exploration stage with a Partial Exploration Report submitted to ANM requesting a deadline extension (9,849.47 ha); two are at final exploration stage with the Positive Final Exploration Report already submitted to ANM (1,885.88 ha), indicating reasonable prospects to continue with economical analyses and subsequent mining concession application after ANM’s approval of reports; five are at the final exploration stage with the Negative Final Exploration Report already submitted to ANM (6,711.28 ha), which means that these areas should be considered available after ANM’s approval of reports; and the remaining twenty-one permits are at an exploration stage (24,219.78 ha).
Greenstone is a development-stage gold project located in Ontario, Canada. Greenstone is being advanced in a 60/40 partnership between Equinox Gold and Orion through their respective interests in Greenstone Gold Mine GP Inc., which manages the project. The Greenstone Gold Mine Property (the GGM Property) is situated in the Thunder Bay Mining Division of Ontario. The GGM Property includes three blocks of contiguous claims known as the Hardrock, Brookbank and Viper areas, over a distance of more than 100 km located along, or in close proximity to, the Trans-Canada Highway between the towns of Beardmore and Longlac, Ontario. The Hardrock claim group includes the Hardrock, Key Lake and Kailey Deposits. The Brookbank claim group hosts the Brookbank, Cherbourg and Fox Ear deposits and the Irwin prospect.
The Greenstone project (the Greenstone Project) is located within the southeast portion of the Hardrock claim block. The GGM Property consists of a contiguous block of patented claims, mining leases, licences of occupation and cell claims covering a total area 39,072.1 ha, of which 15,862.7 ha relates to Hardrock claims.
Dispositions
On April 21, 2022, the company completed the sale of Mercedes to Bear Creek.
History
The company was formerly known as Trek Mining Inc. and changed its name to Equinox Gold Corp. in 2017. The company was incorporated under the British Columbia Business Corporations Act (the BCBCA) in 2007.
