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Receives Priority Approval from the state of Para´s Department of Industry, Commerce and Mining (SEICOM) for the Araguaia Nickel Project, Brazil
Horizonte Minerals, (LSE:HZM) (TSX:HZM), the nickel development company focused in Brazil, has said that its wholly owned subsidiary Araguaia Niquel Mineração has received the Seal of Priority (‘The Seal’) from the state of Para´s Department of Industry, Commerce and Mining (SEICOM) to help fast-track the development of its Araguaia Nickel Project located in Parà State, south of the Carajas mining district in northern Brazil.
Horizonte is the first mineral resource company to become a member of the state’s incentive plan.
The Seal is a key component of the Brazilian state of Parà´s “Plan for Attracting New Business”, a law introduced to accelerate the development of projects deemed to be of strategic importance for economic and social development of Para. This is a significant development for Horizonte as Decree 913 confers special status to Araguaia, whereby the Project will receive priority treatment from the various regulatory, environmental and administrative organisations with which it will interact along its development path. The Seal has been granted to Araguaia as it meets various criteria laid out in Decree 913, including its location in a municipality prioritised for economic development and the value-added processing that would take place on the site with the production of ferronickel.
Horizonte Minerals’ CEO Jeremy Martin said, “Following swiftly on from our completion and filing of the SEIA for Araguaia we are delighted to be the first mineral resource company to receive the priority approval from Brazil’s Parà State. This will ensure that the Project receives fast track prioritised status with the main permitting authorities and that we receive direct support from the Parà State government as we develop Araguaia. I look forward to providing further updates in due course.”
Araguaia Nickel Project:
Horizonte Minerals recently announced the results of a Pre-Feasibility study at its flagship Araguaia Nickel Project in Brazil, which demonstrates the robust economics of the project, which is being advanced towards the Feasibility Stage in H2 2014.
Production, which is targeted for 2017, is initially planned to be 15,000tpa nickel with a 20% ferronickel product over a 25 year mine life utilising the proven pyrometallurgical process of Rotary Kiln Electric Furnace technology. At these production rates, the project has a Net Present Value of US$519 million and an Internal Rate of Return of 20%, with a capital cost of US$582 million, which puts this project in the lowest quartile of the cost curve.
The strong project economics of Araguaia are also supported by the high nickel grades, with an average feed grade for the first 10 years of 1.76% Ni, placing the deposit in the upper quartile for grade globally. Furthermore Araguaia is located in the world class mining region with pre-existing infrastructure in place including rail, road, water and power.
