JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed fertiliser developer Aguia Resources has completed the optimised preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its flagship Três Estradas phosphate deposit, in Brazil, indicating a resource estimate of 74.7-million tonnes with an average grade of 4.13% phosphate and a new net present value of $400-million.

“This updated PEA has unlocked considerable value from the Três Estradas project, which is now very capable of delivering high-quality phosphate and calcite at a materially lower cost than is currently being supplied to the southern Brazil market. This represents a major opportunity for Aguia, underpinned by a robust and growing agricultural sector in Brazil,” said Aguia MD Justin Reid.

According to the optimised PEA, the resource at Três Estradas comprised 745 000 t of measured resource grading 4.42% phosphate, 15.07-million tonnes of indicated resource grading 4.75% phosphate, and 58.89-million tonnes of inferred resource grading 3.97% phosphate.

The proposed project would also include a resource of 2.75-million tonnes grading 4.37% phosphate from the nearby Joca Tavares carbonatite, which included 915 000 t of measured resource grading 3.98% phosphate, 1.5-million tonnes of indicated resource grading 4.31% phosphate and 329 000 t of inferred resource grading 5.74% phosphate.

The updated mining plan forecast a total of 59-million tonnes run-of-mine (RoM), mined at a strip ration of 3:1:1. This represented an increase of about 50% to the scale of the project, compared with last year’s PEA, which projected 40-million tonnes RoM.

Aguia noted that the phosphate recoveries defined at its Eriez flotation division also resulted in a substantial increase in the economic value of the mineralised rock.

“These new and robust economic results satisfy our objective of designing a simple and efficient project that delivers significant value for Aguia shareholders,” said technical director Fernando Tallarico, adding that the new recoveries would allow for Aguia to mine about 50% more tonnes of mineralised rock compared with the previous project design, which contemplated a more complicated operation.

Reid added that the team’s “focused and methodical technical approach” at Três Estradas had set the stage for the company to deliver a return to shareholders.

“The hard work of our technical team over the past 12 months has been remarkable, and we look forward to aggressively moving Três Estradas forward into full bank feasibility and to continue with our permitting process, which is well advanced,” he said.

The company was also prioritising exploration and development drilling activities at the phosphate operation.

“We currently have A$2.9-million in the bank, which is sufficient funding to meet our current work plan for the rest of the year and into 2017,” he said.

ABOUT TRÊS ESTRADAS
The project includes an openpit and truck-and-shovel operation, mining both the Três Estradas and Joca Tavares deposits over a life-of-mine (LoM) of 14 years. With a capacity of 500 000 t/y of phosphate concentrate, the average yearly feed to the processing plant will 4.5-million tonnes, resulting in an LoM production of 6.6-million tons phosphate concentrate and 22.7-million tonnes of calcite, averaging about 466 000 t/y of phosphate concentrate and 1.6-million tonnes of by-product calcite yearly.