Name of the Project
Trés Estradas phosphate project.

Location
The Trés Estradas project is located in the municipality of Lavras do Sul, about 320 km south-west of Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, in southern Brazil.

Client
Aguia Resources.

Project Description
Trés Estradas has an audited pit-constrained resource estimated at 74.7-million tonnes with an average grade of 4.13% phosphorous pentoxide. It comprises 745 000 t of measured resource grading 4.42% phosphorous pentoxide, 15.07-million tonnes of indicated resource grading 4.75% phosphorous pentoxide and 58.89-million tonnes of inferred resource grading 3.97% phosphorous pentoxide.

The proposed project will also include a resource of 2.75-million tonnes grading 4.37% phosphorous pentoxide from the nearby Joca Tavares carbonatite, which includes 915 000 t of measured resource grading 3.98% phosphorous pentoxide, 1.5-million tonnes of indicated resource grading 4.31% phosphorous pentoxide and 329 000 t of inferred resource grading 5.74% phosphorous pentoxide.

The optimised preliminary economic assessment envisions a mining operation comprising mining phosphate from the Trés Estradas deposit and the Joca Tavares deposit located south-east of Trés Estradas.

Phosphate material from both deposits will be milled and processed at Trés Estradas.

The project includes an openpit, truck-and-shovel operation, mining both the deposits over a life-of-mine (LoM) of 14 years.

With a capacity of 500 000 t/y of phosphate concentrate, the average feed to the processing plant will be 4.5-million tonnes a year, resulting in an LoM production of 6.6-million tonnes of phosphate concentrate and another 22.7-million tonnes of calcite, averaging about 466 000 t of phosphate concentrate and 1.6-million tonnes of by-product calcite yearly.

Jobs to be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The PEA estimates a post-tax net present value, at a 7.5% discount rate, of $400-million and a post-tax internal rate of return of 43%.

Value
The project has an initial capital expenditure of $118.23-million.

Duration
The project will have an LoM of 14 years, preceded by three years of construction and ramp-up of production.

Latest Developments
Testwork at the Trés Estradas phosphate project, in Brazil, has indicated significant capital and operating expenditure savings through process improvements and production efficiencies.

The testwork, done as part of the bankable feasibility study (BFS), has delivered the information necessary to define the process flow diagrams, mass and energy balance, and allowed for the finalisation of the trade-off studies.

The tests have confirmed an optimal run-of-mine rate of three-million tonnes a year, producing about 300 000 t/y of phosphate concentrate, while the crushing and grinding circuit, and milling circuit, have been optimised.

The BFS is on track for completion in March next year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Aguia Resources, tel +55 31 3505 5200 or or email info@aguiaresources.com.au.