PILAR GOLD MINE

PILAR DEPOSIT - GEOLOGY

The Pilar deposit is hosted by the basal units of the Nova Lima Group. The rocks in the region of the mine are comprised of tholeiitic basalts and komatiite flows of the Ouro Fino and Morro Vermelho Units, along with their intrusive equivalents. To the west, these basal units are in fault contact with mica-quartz schists, chlorite-quartz schists, chlorite-sericite schists, and chemical and clastic sedimentary rocks of the Santa Quitéria Unit. The chemical sedimentary rocks include chert and BIF. To the east, the units are in fault contact with migmatites and granitic gneisses of the Bação Complex that form the basement sequence.

On the mine property, all rock units strike in a northeasterly direction. The regional strike of the units changes to a southeasterly direction to the south of the mine property. Regional mapping has found that the foliations mostly dip steeply to the southeast. The regional-scale thrust faults also strike in a northeasterly direction and dip steeply to the southeast on the mine property.

On the property scale, at least three different orientations of faults are recognized. The earliest fault is the northeasterly-striking regional-scale thrust fault that forms the contact between the Santa Quitéria Unit and the Ouro Fino and Morro Vermelho Units. This thrust fault cross-cuts and terminates a more northerly set of faults that have a strike of approximately 020° and dip steeply to the east. The third set of faults are oriented in an east-west orientation and have subvertical dips. The displacement along these faults has been observed in underground exposures to be in the order of one to two metres.

The host rocks of the mine have been affected by at least one period of folding. Structural mapping on the property has shown that the orientation of the fold axes dip approximately 45° to the southeast (azimuth 135°).

The mineralization at the Pilar Mine is hosted by a number of the host rock units including the BIFs along with mafic schists and talc-chlorite schists. Gold mineralization is associated with sulphide mineralization consisting of arsenopyrite and pyrrhotite. Quartz veins and veinlets can also be present, however, the presence of quartz is not a prerequisite for higher gold values. The sulphide minerals occur mostly as disseminations in the host rock, however, semi- massive to massive concentrations are seen locally over a few tens of centimetres. Quartz veins are typically less than one metre in width.