(Kitco News) Cabral Gold is preparing to double the capacity of its new Phase 1 mine at Cuiú Cuiú in Brazil within a year. The heap leach operation was designed at US$2,500 gold but the company sold its first ounces at more than US$4,200.
“We anticipate that we’ll be declaring commercial production probably sometime in November,” CEO Alan Carter told Kitco Mining on Sept. 25 at the 2026 Precious Metals Summit in Beaver Creek. That was two weeks after the first gold pour on Sept. 10, which came about two months ahead of schedule.
A commissioning team from Perth, Australia, is working through the plant to bring it up to design rates. “And there are always teething issues. You’ve got to optimize the throughput,” Carter said.
Cabral expects to produce about 25,000 ounces in the first 12 months, with full 2027 guidance due in early January. The July 2025 prefeasibility study put all-in sustaining costs at US$1,210 an ounce. “So it will throw off quite a bit of cash,” Carter said. At current prices, he estimated, “the operation next year should throw off about 75 million US dollars in free cash.”
That cash flow could speed repayment of the US$45 million gold loan from the company’s largest shareholder. The loan carries 10% interest over a 39-month term and is repaid in bullion, with the first interest payment due at the end of December. “So we should be able to pay the gold loan down pretty quickly,” Carter said.
Because Cabral owes a fixed number of ounces, the loan grows in dollar terms as gold rises. “It is what it is. It was a very good deal at the time,” Carter said. Revenue climbs with it, he added: “But don’t forget, so does the amount of money we’re making.”
Cabral had C$55 million in cash before any gold sales. On Sept. 30, it reported a first sale of more than 2,400 ounces at an average net realized price above US$4,200 an ounce. It said the project remained on time and on budget for commercial production in the fourth quarter.
Phase 1 mines the weathered saprolite, about 60 meters thick from surface. Most of the gold sits deeper. “Now, below that, most of our gold resources, about 75% of that 1.2 million ounces, is in the hard rock below that saprolite,” Carter said.
The plan is to expand Phase 1 from 3,000 to 6,000 tonnes a day, with guidance on timing and cost to come. Cabral will also likely begin a preliminary economic assessment of the larger hard-rock Phase 2 operation. “I think hopefully by this time next year we’ll be chatting about the results of the PEA on the much bigger phase two mine,” Carter said.
A district-wide resource update is due by year-end, the first since September 2022. Three deposits were modeled then. Six are being modeled now, including the Jerimum Cima discovery. “We are expecting the resources to grow significantly,” Carter said. Now that it is producing, Cabral will report resources every year.
The latest drilling points the same way. On October 20, 2026, Cabral reported holes north of the Central deposit that extended mineralization at depth and along strike, including 8.2 meters at 2.50 grams per tonne gold in DDH391, where true widths may be about half the reported length. Elton Pereira, the newly hired vice president of exploration, said the Central-PDM trend runs for at least 5 kilometers and that the results “bode well” for the resource update.
More than 50 targets lie beyond the six deposits. “Those are 50 targets where we’ve either found gold in drill holes, trenching, or boulder fields,” Carter said. Regional exploration, he said, “has suffered, to be honest, because we haven’t had the capital to do the work on it. But now, being in cashflow, we’ve got more than enough money to actually do all those targets justice.”
Six rigs were turning at the time of the interview, though the company said in the Oct. 20 release that rig maintenance and longer lab turnaround times have slowed progress. Results are pending on 28 diamond and 69 reverse circulation holes.
Production also gives Cabral room to look further afield. “We are starting to turn our attention to look at other potential assets,” Carter said, though he stressed that Cuiú Cuiú remains the focus.
Carter admits the size of the district makes it hard to keep the message simple. “But it is a large district. There’s gold all over the place.”
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