It's operating at about 90% of its design capacity of 7,400 tonnes per day, with recoveries consistently above 70% and ranging up to 85%, the company said.
Around 23,000 ounces of gold have been produced to September 30, and gold production is expected to continue to increase through the fourth quarter, Equinox added.
"Santa Luz is our fourth operating mine in Brazil and represents 100,000 ounces of average annual production with mine life extension potential from near-mine surface targets, an underground deposit, and additional opportunities in the 70-km-long mineralized greenstone belt that hosts our Santa Luz and Fazenda mines," the company's president and CEO Greg Smith said.
National Bank of Canada Financial Markets analyst Mike Parkin noted that the ramp-up to commercial production took longer than planned due to modifications required to handle resin-in-leach processing and rectification of piping and leach tank issues following construction.
It had been guided to begin in the third quarter.
"Once fully ramped up, we model Santa Luz producing ~100,000oz annually over the LOM, with 2023 production estimates of 104,000oz, representing ~16% of company-wide production," Parkin said.
He added that NBF currently values Santa Luz at C$671 million (US$496.14 million), or C$2.17 per share, which makes up roughly 17% of its company-wide net asset value.
Equinox's share price climbed 4% day on day to C$5.51 on 5 October. The company has a market capitalisation of C$1.68 billion.
NBF has a target price for Equinox of C$6.75 per share.
