Cuiú Cuiú Gold-in-Oxide Heap Leach Project Commissioning Update
Cabral Gold Inc. (TSXV: CBR) has reached a major construction milestone at its Phase 1 gold-in-oxide heap leach project in the Cuiú Cuiú Gold District, northern Brazil. As of July 2026, the project is approximately 85% complete with over 90% of project costs committed under contract, and commissioning is actively underway.
Construction Progress
The dry circuit construction is complete, and the project has achieved several critical milestones:
- Mining commenced: Ore from the MG orebody is being processed through the sizer, agglomerated, and transported by conveyor to heap leach pads
- Water management: Water collection and management ponds are fully constructed
- Heap leach pads: Pad construction well underway, with pad 2 of four to be completed in July
- ADR plant: The adsorption-desorption-recovery plant has arrived in Brazil and is expected on site late July 2026
- Safety record: 501,743 total hours worked in 2026 with zero lost time incidents
Processing Design
The Cuiú Cuiú heap leach operation is designed around a simple, low-cost processing route requiring no crushing or grinding:
- Feed rate: 3,000 tonnes per day of near-surface gold-in-oxide saprolite
- Free digging: Material requires no drilling or blasting, significantly reducing mining costs
- Gold recovery: Column leach tests returned 72.5%–96% recovery; 88% assumed for the PFS
- Production target: ~25,000 oz/year during initial years, 113,155 oz total over 6.2-year mine life
Project Economics
The July 2025 Pre-Feasibility Study confirms highly attractive project economics:
- After-tax IRR: 78% at US$2,500/oz gold base case
- NPV(5%): US$73.9 million
- Capex: US$37.7 million (fully funded via US$45M gold loan)
- AISC: US$1,210/oz; Cash costs US$950/oz during initial years
- Payback period: Just 10 months
Resource Base
The Cuiú Cuiú district hosts substantial NI 43-101 compliant resources across three main gold deposits: Indicated resources of 12.29Mt @ 1.14 g/t gold (450,200 oz) in fresh material and 13.56Mt @ 0.50 g/t gold (216,182 oz) in oxide, plus Inferred resources of 13.63Mt @ 1.04 g/t gold (455,100 oz) in fresh and 6.4Mt @ 0.34 g/t gold (70,569 oz) in oxide.
Next Steps
Key milestones ahead include ADR plant installation (late July), wet circuit commissioning during Q3 2026, and commercial production and ramp-up in Q4 2026. Cash flow from Stage 1 will fund expansion and a PEA on the larger hard rock resource (Stage 2) planned for 2027.
