https://www.miningweekly.com

Potential in Peru phosphate deposit

25th July 2014

  

Font size: - +

California-based phosphate explorer Focus Ventures in January signed a formal option agreement for the acquisition of shares in Juan Paulo Quay (JPQ), the titleholder of the Bayovar 12 nonmetallic mining concession, in Peru.

The concession has the potential to host a large sedimentary phosphate deposit and has been the company’s main focus this year.

Focus Ventures can earn 70% interest in the issued share capital of JPQ by investing in exploration and making a series of cash payments up to the completion of a positive prefeasibility study, after which it will have the first right of refusal to buy the remaining 30% of JPQ, notes Focus Ventures director Ralph Rushton.

Meanwhile, a drill permit application has been approved by the Peruvian authorities for an initial 20-hole programme. The drilling uses two diamond drill rigs and is moving rapidly, says the company’s website.

Drilling will concentrate on the western half of the concession, which manage- ment hopes will allow for an initial National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource calculation.

Focus Ventures’ conceptual geological target size is between 80-million tonnes and 100-million tonnes of phosphate rock, grading between 12% and 17% phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5), which is roughly in line with the other known phosphate rock deposits in the Bayovar district.

Rushton cautions that the potential quantity and grade of the ore at the Bayovar 12 phosphate project is concep- tual in nature, adding that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource.

It is also uncertain whether further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. The calculation of a mineral resource is based on the presence of at least six phosphate beds averaging 0.75 m in width, with a specific gravity of roughly 1.7 N, over an area of about 14 km2, explains Focus Ventures president David Cass.

Meanwhile, global environmental engineering consulting firm Golder Associates will advise on the planned sampling, quality assurance and control. The analytical protocol for the drill programme will provide recommendations on drill- hole spacing optimisation for resource classification purposes.

After this, a small bulk sample made up of drill core for initial mineral processing testwork will be collected.

Background

The Bayovar district, in the Sechura Desert, is a north-trending basin that spans about 22 000 km2 and com- prises Miocene-aged rocks covered by recent coastal sand deposits.

Phosphate was discovered in the district in the 1950s, when companies were drilling for petroleum. They discovered beds and horizons of pelletal phosphate within the Zapallal Formation, a sequence of diatomites and sandstones about 200 m thick. Diatomite is a sedimentary rock comprised of fossilised algal shells. It is mined locally in Peru for cement manufacture.

The company’s website notes that the phosphate layers are remarkably regular in P2O5 content over long distances – a typical characteristic of marine phosphate deposits. The soft and friable nature of the phosphate rock and diatomite permits mining by conventional truck and shovel without the use of explosives.

Brazilian mining major Vale’s Bayovar mine, located on the Bayovar 2 concession, about 15 km west of Bayovar 12, is one of the biggest phosphate deposits in South America.

Vale sold minority stakes in the project to concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients producer Mosaic (35%) and Japan-based corporate group Mitsui (25%) for $660-million in 2010.

Fospac, a subsidiary of cement company Cementos Pacasmayo, is developing a phosphate deposit on the Bayovar 9 concession, located immediately north of the Bayovar mine.

The project estimates a mine life of 20 years, based on 130-million tonnes of measured and indicated reserves and resources grading 17.5% P2O5.

Edited by Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION