Itafos, Toronto, has signed an engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) agreement for phosphate mine site development in Farim, Guinea-Bissau, with Lycopodium Minerals Canada Ltd. of Toronto, and the project’s port site development with W.F Baird and Associates Ltd. of Madison, Wisc.
“Signing EPCM agreements with Lycopodium and Baird represents key milestones in the development of Itafos Farim, one of the highest grade undeveloped phosphate mine projects in the world,” said Dr. Mhamed Ibnabdeljalil, interim Itafos CEO.
The EPCM agreement with Lycopodium is for services related to the development of Itafos Farim’s mine site, which is expected to produce 1.3 million mt/y of phosphate rock. Lycopodium performed a technical report for Itafos Farim in 2015.
The EPCM agreement with Baird is for services related to the development of Itafos Farim’s port site, which is expected to load the mine’s phosphate production for global export. Milestones achieved to date include advancing detailed design, completing geotechnical design for piling and soil profiles, and advancing tendering of major procurement packages and long lead items.
In addition to the EPCM agreements with Lycopodium and Baird, Itafos said it has been advancing other aspects of the construction and engineering of Itafos Farim, including finalizing engineering, studies, and field work, completing a construction camp, and hiring crew members.
Itafos also owns and operates Itafos Conda, near Soda Springs, Idaho, with production and sales capacity of about 550,000 mt/y of MAP, superphosphoric acid (SPA), merchant grade phosphoric acid (MGA), and specialty products, including ammonium polyphosphate (APP). In May, Itafos Conda produced 34,288 mt of MAP, exceeding the previous record of 32,341 mt accomplished in May 2013 (GM, June 28, p. 26).
It also is developing the Itafos Paris Hills underground phosphate mine project in southeastern Idaho.
It owns and operates Itafos Arraias in Tocantins, Brazil, where it produces 500,000 mt/y of single superphosphate (SSP), SSP with micronutrients (SSP+), and other products, and about 40,000 mt/y of excess sulfuric acid in Tocantins, Brazil, and Itafos Santana in Pará, Brazil; Itafos Mantaro in Junin, Peru; and Itafos Araxá, a rare earth elements and niobium mine and extraction plant project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.