The 10 biggest foreign-owned mines in Brazil
27 October 2014Many of Brazil’s biggest mines are foreign owned and while recent years have seen changes in royalty and tax laws, both politicians and the public have demanded more indigenous ownership. Mining-technology.com profiles the ten biggest 100% foreign-owned mines in Brazil based on estimated value of the proven and probable reserves as of September 2014.
Minas-Rio iron ore mine - $56.43bn
Minas-Rio, one of the ten biggest iron ore mines in the world, located in the state of Minas Gerais in south-eastern Brazil, is 100% owned by the UK-based mining multinational Anglo American through its subsidiary Iron Ore Brazil. Anglo received operating permit for the Minas-Rio iron ore mine and processing plant from Brazil's federal environment protection agency Ibama in September 2014.
The Minas-Rio open-pit mine was estimated to hold 1.38 billion tonnes of probable iron ore reserves grading 38.8% Fe as of December 2013. The amount of saleable products contained in the mine was estimated to be 686 million tonnes (Mt) grading 67.5% Fe. Scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2014, Minas-Rio is anticipated to produce up to 29.8Mt per annum (mtpa) of iron ore during its initial mine life of 28 years.
Anglo American bought the iron ore project from Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista for about $5.5bn in 2007-'08. Post acquisition, the UK miner is reported to have invested $8.8bn in the integrated mining project which involved the development of an open-pit mine, a beneficiation plant, a 525km long slurry pipeline, and the Port of Açu, located in Rio de Janeiro, in which Anglo has 49% stake.
Santa Rita nickel mine - $13.14bn
Wholly owned by Australia-based Mirabela Nickel, the Santa Rita nickel sulphide mine located 260km southwest of Salvador in the Brazilian state Bahia was estimated to hold 140.2Mt of proven and probable ore reserves, (at an average grade of 0.52% Ni) containing over 729,000t of nickel, as of December 2013.
The Santa Rita Nickel deposit was discovered by Mirabela in 2004 and the open-pit mine was brought into commercial production in 2010. A total of 19.1Mt of ore (at an average nickel grade of 0.48%) was mined from the deposit by the end of 2013. The extracted ore is processed at a nickel sulphide concentration plant located near the mine site.
Nickel concentrate produced from the Santa Rita operation is delivered to Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta (Norilsk) and Votorantim Metais Niquel (Votorantim) under separate off-take agreements. The remaining mining life at Santa Rita is estimated to be 20 years.
Chapadão (Ouvidor) phosphate mine - $13.1bn
Anglo American's 100% owned Chapadão phosphate mine near Ouvidor in the Goias state of Brazil was estimated to contain 118.1Mt of proven and probable ore reserves grading 12.8% phosphate as of December 2013. The Chapadão open-pit mine is believed to contain about 15% of Brazil's known phosphate mineral resources and has a mine life of 20 years.
Ouvidor phosphate mine produces approximately 5.8Mt of high grade phosphate ore (on a dry basis) per year, which is treated at a nearby beneficiation facility that is capable of producing 1.4Mtpa of phosphate concentrate.
The same concentrate is used at two Anglo American-operated chemical processing complexes: one at Catalão in the state of Goiás, and the other at Cubatão in the state of São Paulo, to produce a wide variety of products including fertilisers for the Brazilian Agricultural sector. The company's fertiliser production in 2013 increased by six percent to 1.19Mt.
Barro Alto nickel mine - $12.62bn
Barro Alto open-pit nickel mine, wholly owned by Anglo American, is located in the Goias state of Brazil about 170km away from the company's Codemin nickel mining operation . It's proven and probable ore reserves stood at 45.3Mt (at an average grade of 1.55% Ni) containing 700,000t of nickel as of December 2013.
The Barro Alto nickel project was developed with an investment of $1.9bn and commenced production in March 2011. It produced 25,100t of nickel in 2013, a 16% increase over 2012.
The open-pit mine is expected to produce up to 36,000t of nickel per annum over its mine life of 26 years.
Chapada gold - copper mine - $12.11bn
The Chapada open pit gold-copper mine located in the Goiás state of Brazil and wholly owned by Canada-based Yamana Gold was estimated to contain 3.8 million ounces (Moz) of gold and 2.6 billion pounds (lb) of copper in proven and probable reserves as of December 2013.
Yamana began production from the Chapada mine in 2007. Ore extracted from the open-pit mine is processed at a nearby flotation plant capable of treating 22 million tonnes of ore annually.
Chapada produced 110,618oz of gold and 130.2 million pounds of copper in 2013, and has an estimated life of 18 years.
Paracatu gold mine - $11.63bn
Paracatu gold mine, estimated to contain 10.42Moz of gold reserves (grading at 0.42 g/t Au) as of December 2013, is located north of Paracatu city about 230km away from the capital city Brasília.
The open-pit gold mine operating since 1987 is 100% owned by Canada-based mining company Kinross Gold which purchased Rio Tinto's 51% stake in the mining operation in 2004.
Paracatu produced 500,380oz of gold in 2013 and is estimated to have operating life up to 2042. An expansion was undertaken in 2006 to increase the ore processing facilities at the mine from 18Mtpa to 61Mtpa and a new processing plant was commissioned in 2008.
Boa Vista niobium mine - $9.84bn
Boa Vista open pit niobium mine in the Goias state of Brazil, operating since 1973 with an annual average production of 4,000t of niobium per year, is solely owned by Anglo American. The mine was estimated to contain 14,000t of niobium reserves as of December 2013.
Boa Vista Fresh Rock project, a major expansion project being developed to extend lifespan and optimise mineral extraction, is estimated to contain 229,000t of additional niobium reserves. The Anglo American Board approved $325m of investment for the expansion project in February 2013.
The expansion project, scheduled to start production in 2015, is estimated to produce 6,500t of niobium annually over its mine life of 18 years.
Andrade and Serra Azul iron ore mines - $9.21bn
Luxembourg-based multinational steel company ArcelorMittal owns Andrade and Serra Azul, two open pit iron ore mines located in the Iron Quadrangle (Quadrilátero Ferrifero) region in the state of State of Minas Gerais, that were estimated to hold 120Mt of proven and probable iron ore reserves grading 57.9% Fe as of December 2013.
Situated 80km east of Belo Horizonte, the Andrade mine was transferred to ArcelorMittal by Companhia Siderurgica Belgo-Mineira (CSBM) in 2009. Andrade produced 2.5Mt of sinter feed for ArcelorMittal's João Monlevade integrated plant in Brazil in 2013. The mine's production capacity has further been increased to 3.5Mt of sinter feed per year.
The Serra Azul operation, comprising of an open-pit and a concentrating facility located about 50km southwest of Belo Horizonte, produced 1.4Mt of lumps and sinter fines in 2013.
Juruti bauxite mine - $2.77bn
Juruti bauxite mine, estimated to contain 46.3Mt of proven and probable bone dry bauxite ore reserves containing 48.1% Alumina as of December 2013, is located in the west of Pará in Brazil's Amazon region and is 100% owned by Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), a joint venture comprised of Alcoa (60%), a company based in the US, and Alumina (40%), an Australian company.
The Juruti bauxite mining operation, commissioned in September 2009, involved the development of a mine along with a bauxite processing facility, as well as the construction of Juruti port terminal along the banks of the Amazon River, and a 55km railway connecting the mine site with the port facility.
Bauxite from Juruti is shipped to the Alumar alumina refinery in Sao Luis, Brazil. The Juruti mine produced 3.9Mt of bone dry bauxite in 2013.
Gurupi gold project - $2.58bn
Canadian company Jaguar Mining's Gurupi gold project in the state of Maranhão in North-eastern Brazil was estimated to contain 2.33Moz of gold reserves grading 0.67g/t Au as of December 2013.
Jaguar bought the Gurupi gold property, comprising of Chega Tudo and Cipoeiro deposits, from Kinross in 2009 and completed feasibility study on the project in January 2011, which anticipated operating an open-pit mine capable of producing 149,000oz of gold annually for 13 years.
The project, however, awaits regulatory approvals and final investment decision before it could enter construction phase.
