Centred approximately 10km west of the township of Chile Chico in Chile’s XI Region, the Cerro Bayo Mine District comprises 295km2 of highly prospective epithermal gold & silver Brownfields & Greenfields potential with +100 identified veins and an existing Gold-Silver Flotation Plant.
Following shareholder approval, the Company announced in December 2021 that it had acquired 100% ownership over the Cerro Bayo Project from Mandalay Resources. This includes ownership of the mine, operational processing infrastructure and 295km2 mining claim package. This transaction marks an important milestone in Equus’ growth from explorer to producer.
Since recommissioning the 0.5Mtpa plant at Cerro Bayo on 20 February 2021, Mandalay processed a total of 311kt of ore and generated a Consolidated net income after tax of USD$4,276,000 to September 30, 2021. Feedstock ore was sourced from low-grade stockpiles located generally within 1km of the plant for which permitted production of a further 1.55Mt of stockpiled ore, sufficient for over 3 years of production.
Consideration for the acquisition is the issue to Mandalay of 19% of Equus’s share capital at the time of exercise. Additionally, Equus will pay a 2.25% NSR on production from the Cerro Bayo Mine District claims, payable once production reaches 50,000 gold equivalent ounces, which is subject to a re-purchase option in favour of Equus.
Brownfields Potential
Equus has a number of high-quality Brownfields target peripheral to mined areas & infrastructure
Taitao Target Area
At Taitao Equus has confirmed a Maiden MRE of 302koz Au equiv. @ 2.5 g/t Au equiv. Taitao was previously only mined to only shallow depths of ~35-45m and there remains significant potential for additional resources beneath and along strike of the existing mined areas.
Pegaso Target Areas
The Pegaso targets constitute 5 individual underexplored, host fault extensions of historic mines in highly prospective margins of 3.5km x 5km caldera structure. The cumulative 3.5km long target zones are located within 2km from Cerro Bayo’s 1,500tpd flotation plant infrastructure and along trend from existing high-grade mines (incl. Delia, Dagny, Branca, Coyita), these historical mines collectively host approximately 550KOz AuEq2 @ 5.68 g/t AuEq (Production/Remnant Resources).
Regional Greenfields Exploration
350km2 of prospective gold & silver exploration ground with +100 identified veins within Cerro Bayo project area.
Droughtmaster Target Area
Newly generated 4.5km long target trend located 12km southeast of the Cero Bay processing plant.
