History

1776

• Gold discovered by Portuguese-led pioneers, possibly with the influence of a Tupi Indian legend about a golden hill in the area.
• Another theory attributes the discovery to miners from Minas Gerais embedded in the Portuguese forces fighting the Spanish.

1780s

• Garimpeiro, artisanal mining, begins, known as the arroi Camaquã das Lavras.
• Fazenda Real from the Portuguese Empire employs approximately 1,000 people and produces alluvial gold.

1870

• Frenchman Daniel Laut builds first mill to treat ore.

1880s

• Successive gold rushes that go on until the 1930s. Numerous diggings and excavations remain where gold was liberated.
• English Gold Mining Company mines the area and starts to build the town of Lavras do Sul, unsuccessfully.

1898

• Companhia Lopes e Tallouard, led by Spaniard Francisco Lopes and Frenchman Paul Tallouard, mined the area using a Uruguayan mill, also unsuccessfully.

1901

• Belgian Compagnie de Mines d’Or du Cerrito raised stock capital in Brussels to purchase crushers and cyanide tanks, and build dams.

1909

• Brazilian Goldfields, an English company, buys all the interests and assets of the Belgian company, producing gold for another three years.

1912-1936

• Mining limited to garimpeiros.

1936

• Ouro do Bloco Butiá Ltda. purchases the exploration rights over Butiá, builds a mill using the remnants of the Belgian firm’s equipment, and sells gold to the Banco do Brazil. In 1938, it also sells 18 tonnes of pyrite concentrate at 69 ppm gold to Japan.

1941

• With approximately 673 excavations in the district, a federal monopoly forces companies to sell their gold product to the Banco do Brazil at a discount to the international market.

1950

• Mining goes dormant.

1980-1990

• Companhia Brasileira do Cobre (CBC) carries out detailed surface mapping and drilling exploration, mainly at Butiá and Cerrito.
• Approximately 1,520 metres over 13 holes are drilled at Butiá, but not much usable material remains from this work as the core storage shed was burned in a forest fire.

1981

• Companhia Riograndense de Mineração attempts to mine gold from the Volta Grande metavolcanic succession, but because of technical problems is unsuccessful.

2001

• All CBC assets, including Lavras do Sul land rights and datasets, sold in a public auction.

2003-2006

• Rio Tinto and IAMGOLD explore the Lavras do Sul district. Rio Tinto was first attracted to the area by its thought that there was an analogy with the Paracatu Gold Mine.
• RTDM consolidates the mineral title in the area and completes 793.85 metres of drilling at Cerrito. This core is intact and kept at Lavras Gold’s storage facility at Lavras do Sul.

2006-2022

• Amarillo Gold Corporation enters into contractual agreements to acquire mineral rights and datasets relating to a land package that now covers 22,424 hectares over 29 mineral rights.
•  Amarillo Gold completes approximately 65,000 metres of drilling, prioritizing Butiá and Cerrito targets, and makes the Caneleira Discovery. Also completes regional aeromagnetic drone and soil geochemistry surveys.

April 1, 2022 – present

• Lavras Gold Corp. acquires all of Amarillo’s contractual agreements relating to mineral rights and data sets and begins a systematic exploration program that includes regional aeromagnetic and soil chemistry programs, and a 16,000-metre drill program. New discoveries including Zeca Souza, Matilde, Matilde Extension, Vila Marieta, and Galvao are announced. The most significant discovery to this point is Fazenda do Posto with its 340 metres of 1.1g/t gold and its continuous mineralization.