Cabral Gold’s Cuiú Cuiú project: capex, grades and IRR explained for mine planners
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Cabral Gold’s Cuiú Cuiú project in Pará, Brazil, has returned its strongest drill intervals to date at the Jerimum Cima target, with hole DDH372 cutting 25.8 metres at 0.6 g/t Au from 131 metres, including about 3 metres at 285.5 g/t Au within a high-grade central zone surrounded by lower grade stockwork. The project’s updated prefeasibility study outlines 13.6 Mt indicated at 0.5 g/t Au (216,182 oz), 6.4 Mt inferred at 0.34 g/t Au (70,570 oz), initial capex of $37.7 million, a 78% post-tax IRR and 10‑month payback at $2,500/oz. Cabral plans Q4 start-up via a heap leach oxide starter pit at Moreira Gomes, targeting 113,000 oz over 6.2 years, with the share price up over 350% year-on-year.
Technical Brief
- Hole DDH372 at Jerimum Cima intersected 25.8 m from 131 m depth, including ultra-high-grade core.
- The same DDH372 zone correlates with earlier intercepts of 45.6 m at 4.5 g/t and 9.5 m at 5.74 g/t.
- DDH369 cut 14 m at 0.73 g/t from 211.8 m, including 7.5 m at 1.24 g/t.
- Jerimum Cima’s high-grade core is interpreted as a discrete zone within broader lower-grade stockwork mineralisation.
- Cuiú Cuiú lies in Pará’s Tapajós region, historically producing 20–30 Moz placer gold district-wide.
- Local placer workings at Cuiú Cuiú alone are estimated to have yielded 1.5–2 Moz of alluvial gold.
Our Take
On our books, Cuiú Cuiú’s post-tax IRR of 78% with an initial capex of C$37.7 million places Cabral Gold at the aggressive end of Latin American gold project economics, suggesting strong leverage to any further resource growth at Jerimum Cima or Moreira Gomes.
The indicated and inferred grades at Cuiú Cuiú (around 0.5 g/t and 0.34 g/t) are low relative to many hard-rock gold projects in our Mining coverage, so the very short 10‑month payback implies Cabral is likely banking on scale, low strip, or simple processing rather than head grade to drive returns.
Being only 25 km from G Mining Ventures’ Tocantinzinho project in Pará gives Cabral Gold optionality around shared infrastructure and a potential future district-scale development model in the Tapajós region, which has already seen an estimated 20–30 million ounces of historical placer output.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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