A revised layout for the main drain at the waste pile site has now been drawn up, preserving 5.4 hectares of native forest. The new designs will be subject to review by the environmental authority during a site inspection slated for December 8.
Once approvals are secured, work can run in parallel across both the pile and pit areas, ticking off the final conditions of the installation environmental licences and clearing the path for an all-important operating licence.
Aguia Resources executive chairman Warwick Grigor said: “Progress across all work streams is advancing to plan, budget and timelines in order to commence mining operations at Três Estradas in March.”
Aguia says its expecting to produce of more than 160,000 tonnes of its flagship Pampafos product every year by 2027. According to the company, recent field trials showed Pampafos rivals the performance of top-shelf imported fertilisers at a fraction of their price.
Aguia’s product has also gained approval from Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, with only the registration certificate pending a post-upgrade inspection of the facility once the operating licence is in hand.
Aguia estimates its operating costs to total A$65 per tonne and says at recent market pricing it could potentially pull a gross profit margin of A$21.6 million per annum.
With the advancements on site, financing execution and order letters flowing in, Aguia is moving towards a solid operational launch mid-next year, leveraging its phosphate assets in Brazil’s agricultural region to meet the desperate demand for sustainable fertilisers.
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