Brazil’s Onças de Pitangui Project, With Reserves of 286,000 Ounces, Denied License
Key Facts
Brazil’s environmental agency in the state of Minas Gerais rejected, on October 30, 2026, Jaguar Mining’s application to combine preliminary and installation licenses for the Onças de Pitangui underground gold mine project. The company announced the decision in a statement via ACCESS Newswire, after the Alto São Francisco regional unit of the FEAM Foundation ruled on the application. The rejection followed a technical opinion issued on October 29 that recommended against granting the license. The company said the agency cited shortcomings, including insufficient technical data in some areas. The decision puts the project application on a path toward reassessment and completion of the file before the agency considers a new application.
Jaguar described the decision as not finding that the project was environmentally unfeasible. The company quoted the agency’s wording that viability “has not been demonstrated at this time,” which is linked to the need to reassess control systems. According to the statement, the agency called for a new, properly documented application. This provides a procedural basis for the next step announced by the company; it is not an announcement of a final rejection of the project itself. The company did not set a date for resubmission or a timeline for reviewing the application after the data are completed.
Chief Executive Officer Luis Albano Tondo said the company would address the shortcomings identified by the URA in the environmental impact study, then resubmit it. The work, according to the company, includes completing what the agency requested and reassessing the control systems associated with the project. This means the announced next step focuses on the environmental file, while the statement gives no specific date for filing the amended application. The company also did not announce any change to the project design or its operating plan as a result of the decision. Further steps will depend on completing the study and submitting the file to the relevant agency.
The Onças de Pitangui project is located about 110 kilometers northwest of Belo Horizonte and 30 kilometers from the company’s Turmalina processing plant. Jaguar acquired the project from IAMGOLD in September 2023 and aims to develop an underground gold mine. Its proximity to the Turmalina plant gives the project a direct link to processing infrastructure the company owns in the region. This means the licensing file concerns an asset within the scope of Jaguar’s existing operations in Minas Gerais. The current decision, however, concerns the project’s preliminary and installation license applications.
The project’s reported proven and probable reserves total 286,000 ounces of gold, within 2.122 million tonnes grading 4.16 grams per tonne. Measured and indicated resources also total 457,000 ounces grading 4.01 grams per tonne, while inferred resources amount to 490,000 ounces grading 3.64 grams per tonne. These figures show the scale of the gold base associated with the license application, distinguishing reserves from other resource categories. In a separate reserves update through the end of 2024, the company said its proven and probable reserves rose 63% to 764,000 ounces, driven mainly by the addition of 284,000 ounces of reserves at Onças de Pitangui. The addition underscores the project’s weight in the company’s reported reserves base.
Before Jaguar acquired the project, about 88,000 meters of drilling had been completed in the Pitangui greenstone belt, according to the statement; the company then conducted additional exploration after the acquisition. The company’s annual report said the Faina area began its first underground gold production in the second quarter of 2024 and produced 3,284 ounces through the fourth quarter of that year. Jaguar’s operations in Brazil include the MTL, Caeté and Paciência gold mining complexes. The Roca Grande facility has been under temporary maintenance since April 2019, while the company is developing the restart of the Santa Isabel mine and plant, targeting a resumption of operations in early 2027. This context places the Pitangui project within a portfolio that includes producing assets and others under development or being restarted.