Equinox Gold begins mining at Santa Luz

Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX, NYSE: EQX) announced today that mining activities are underway at its new Santa Luz gold mine in Brazil.

According to the company, construction remains on track to commence commissioning in the fourth quarter of this year and pour gold in the first quarter of next year, with the expectation of producing 110,000 ounces of gold annually for the first five years of operations.

Mining activities are currently focused on removing waste from two locations and developing access roads, ramps, dumps and ore storage areas in preparation for a pre-stripping campaign prior to mining ore in late 2021.

As a brownfield past-producing mine, the majority of site services and infrastructure is already in place at Santa Luz.

Using the base case gold price of US$1,500 per oz., Santa Luz is forecast to produce 903,000 ounces of gold and generate US$436 million in after-tax net cash flow over an initial 9.5-year mine life.