Jacuí

About the project

The target lies in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Brazil's main iron ore province, across the municipalities of Rio Piracicaba and São Gonçalo do Rio Abaixo. The host is the Cauê Formation of the Itabira Group, the unit that carries the region's main iron deposits, with friable, semi-compact and compact itabirites, ferruginous quartzites and hematite bodies at surface.

The area went through a full exploration campaign between October 2006 and April 2009, with a final report that July: topographic survey at 1:2,000, detailed geological mapping at 1:5,000, two ground-penetrating radar surveys, diamond drilling and three-dimensional geological modelling. It comprised 13 diamond holes, 1,202.7 metres drilled, 125 core samples analysed and 24 in-situ density tests.

The layers thicken mainly in the hinge zones of isoclinal and asymmetric folds, where the itabirite becomes more massive. Those are the points guiding further exploration.

The drill grid is still open: of the 61 planned positions, 13 were completed, and the next step is to infill it, extend the topographic coverage and take the mapping to a finer scale.