but it is the single largest producing asset in the country. Its parent,
to 2034. The numbers tell a story about scale that other Brazilian
operations can only envy.¹²
gold operations in the Americas and the single biggest contributor to
the mine accounting for 13.2 percent of national production — almost
double the share of the next-largest asset, Jacobina in Bahia.¹ That
ranking has been stable for more than a decade, underscoring the
durability of Paracatu's economics through gold's price cycles.
its size. Head grades sit in the range typical of bulk mines rather than
high-grade narrow-vein operations; what makes the project work is
volume. Paracatu moves an enormous amount of material, and modern
processing technology — including fine-grind concentration and optimised
cyanide leaching — converts relatively low-grade ore into a reliable
ounce stream.
year, meaning Paracatu alone accounted for close to one-fifth of it on
an ounce basis.³ Few mid-tier jurisdictions are as dependent on a single
operation.
top-of-the-league status. The 601,000 ounces marked a stable performance
in a year when global volatility was the norm rather than the exception.
several operations entered care-and-maintenance status on cost pressures
that did not hit Brazil in the same way.
closed 2025 at US$4,289.48 per troy ounce.⁴ Applying that year-end
reference to a 601,000-ounce output implies gross revenue approaching
all-in sustaining costs, the cash generation profile was among the
strongest of any single gold operation globally.
elsewhere in the company's global footprint — including the Great Bear
project in Canada and continued investment at Tasiast in Mauritania.
company's decision to lift capital expenditure at Paracatu to US$235
million in 2026, up from US$189 million in 2025.² The increase is not a
maintenance bump — it is a deliberate reinvestment in an asset whose
economics have improved with the price.
technical report matters operationally as much as economically: it
formalises the assumption that Paracatu will still be producing nine
years from now, and it gives the supplier base, the local workforce and
the Minas Gerais state government a planning horizon that materially
informs their own investment decisions.
material that is economic at US$4,000 was simply outside the
calculation. The 2025-2026 price environment re-optimised the mine plan,
pulling material into reserve classification that had previously sat in
the resource bucket. That is how gold-price cycles show up in long-life
operations — not as a production jump, but as a life extension.
is not the only important one. The company also operates Fort Knox and
of mature, high-volume cash generator.
capital, Paracatu is not the target — it is the source. The 2026 capex
uplift at the site is therefore best read as a signal that the company
sees residual optimisation value rather than transformational upside. A
mature asset does not need transformation; it needs reliability and
longevity, and the 2034 mine life delivers exactly that.
country up 64.8 percent to R$39.3 billion in 2025, according to IBRAM's
annual yearbook, Paracatu's contribution is not just a portfolio story —
it is a macroeconomic one.⁴ The asset pays a large tax and royalty bill
at the federal, state and municipal levels, and its continuation through
surrounding region of Minas Gerais.
to. Three lessons stand out.
running on low-grade ore can deliver world-class output when processing
is optimised and infrastructure is in place. Several Brazilian mid-tier
producers — including Aura Minerals at its recently commissioned
precisely this logic.
continuously operated under the same broad regulatory framework for
decades, and the absence of abrupt policy surprises has enabled
long-duration capital planning. New projects entering the Brazilian
pipeline will benefit from the precedent.