VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Brazil-focused fertiliser producer Harvest Minerals is planning a significant expansion at its Arapua fertiliser project, with the addition of four knife mills and associated infrastructure that will push production capacity above the 320 000 t/y level.
The LSE Aim-listed company announced on Monday morning that the expansion was prompted by better-than-expected demand for its proprietary multi-nutrient, slow release, organic fertiliser called KPfértil, following the successful soft product launch in late 2017.
The new knife mills will act as secondary mills fed from the current primary mill to create a single processing line. Installation and commissioning is slated to be complete by the second quarter and is fully funded.
Harvest advised that the expansion creates a single production line with the potential to add further production lines as required.
So significant is demand for KPfértil, that Harvest is currently expanding the local sales and marketing team to broaden its geographical focus.
Meanwhile, the company is exploring for new avenues of demand, with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply currently reviewing an application to certify KPfértil as a remineraliser, which is expected to be processed early in the current quarter.
According to Harvest, KPfértil offers several economic and agronomic benefits and addresses the significant demand for locally produced fertiliser in Brazil, with its abundant agricultural land. Currently, the country imports 90% of the potash it uses, but government has mandated the agricultural sector to be self-sufficient in fertilisers by 2020.
Covering 14 946 ha and located in the heart of the Brazilian agriculture belt in Minas Gerais, Arapua is a shallow, low-cost mine with an indicated and inferred resource of 13.07-million tonnes grading 3.1% potassium oxide and 2.49% phosphorus pentoxide.