Brazil’s BF Mineração Ltda. has won the auction for the exploration rights for the Miriri phosphates project in the country’s northeastern states of Pernambuco and Paraíba, paying R$51,000 (approximately US$10,112 at current exchange rates), according to a report by Brazilian weekly news magazine Istoé Dinheiro.
The project auction was part of Brazil’s Ministry of the Economy’s Investment Partnership Program (PPI), and according to the report, BF Mineração’s offer represented a 70 percent increase over the minimum bid.
The Miriri phosphate deposit is divided into two blocks over a total area of 7,752.84 hectares. The deposit contains an estimated 114.7 million tons of phosphate ore with an average content of 4.19 percent P2O5, according to the PPI website, citing Brazil’s national research and mineral resources company, CPRM. PPI put the required investment at R$190.5 million.