Serra Grande, Brazil
Serra Grande is located in central Brazil in the state of Goiás, about 5km from the city of Crixás.
Ownership
100%
AngloGold Ashanti
Mineral Resource
of gold
Gold production
All-in sustaining costs
Capital expenditure
Workforce
including contractors
Overview and locality
Mineração Serra Grande (MSG or Serra Grande) is wholly owned by AngloGold Ashanti and is located in the northwest of Goiás State, central Brazil.
The Serra Grande operation comprises three underground mines, namely Mina III (including orebody IV, V and Ingá), Mina Nova (including Pequizão orebody) and Mina Palmeiras. The open pits mine the outcrop of Mina III Inferior and Structure IV zones, and Pequizão. Three mining methods are used underground: sub-level stoping (bottom-up and top-down), cut and fill, and room and pillar.
One dedicated metallurgical plant, with an annual capacity of 1.5Mt, treats all ore mined.
A brief history
- Exploration began in 1973 with a phase of detailed mapping and diamond drilling, which continued until 1976.
- The mining operation started up in 1986 in Mina III and the metallurgical plant start-up was in 1989.
- Annual production peaked at 193,000oz in 2006, supported by high grades.
- In 2009, the metallurgical plant was expanded to 1.3Mtpa to compensate for a declining grade-profile.
- In 2012, AngloGold Ashanti acquired the 50% stake that belonged to the Kinross Group.
ESG statistics 2021
All injury frequency rate
5.56 per million hours worked
Community investment
$21,000
Reportable environmental incidents
0
Water use
1,850ML
Water use efficiency
1.50kL/t
Energy consumption
0.70PJ
Energy use intensity
0.56GJ/t
GHG emissions
35kt
GHG emission intensity
28kg/t CO2e
Rehabilitation liabilities
$16m
Related stories

Serra Grande achieves full conversion to filtered tailings
In September 2021, AngloGold Ashanti’s Serra Grande mine became the first mine in Brazil to implement a 100% filtered tailings disposal system. This means that, at the end of ore processing, all the tailings generated go through a drying process after which it is placed in filtered tailings stacks. Wet tailings are no longer sent to the tailings storage facilities.

Tailings storage facility management in Brazil
We have engaged with concerned communities to demonstrate the effectiveness of our TSF management systems. In 2019, more the 850 people from our nearby communities participated in visits to TSFs.

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Brazil’s sustainable partnership programme
AngloGold Ashanti has a number of partnerships in place that help us to live up to our commitment to make the communities in which we operate better off because of our presence.