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Brazil

Boa Vista Mine

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Categories

Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Niobium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotBoa Vista Mine focuses on mining and processing of niobium with ferroniobium as its major product. CMOC is the second largest producer of niobium in the world.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
CMOC Group Ltd. 100 % Indirect
The CMOC Group Ltd. indirectly owns 100% equity interests in the Boa Vista mine through its subsidiary CMOC Brasil Mineração Indústria e Participações Ltda.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

Two significant niobium deposits have been defined to date and are named Boa Vista and Morro de Padre deposits. These deposits are hosts by igneous rocks which occur as swarms of thin dikes, forming a stockwork of crosscutting dikes in the upper zone and varying to individual mineralised thicker dikes at depth.

Niobium mineralisation is associated with nelsonite vein which vary in thickness and orientation forming stock work style deposits. Containing magnetite-apatite-carbonate composition economic mineralisation is exclusively associated with the mineral pyrochlore. The nelsonite veins are hosted within a variety of pre-existing lithologies including amphibolite and fenite, a metasomatically altered rock believed to originally comprise phyllite. Phlogopite alteration may also be associated with the carbonatite veins, where it commonly occurs as haloes surrounding the veins and overprinting the fenite. To a lesser extent phlogopite occurs as selvages to the nelsonite veins.

Both the Boa Vista and Morro de Padre deposits occur as pipe-like bodies consisting of sub vertical major feeder structures that permit vertical passage of the deep-seated carbonatite magmas to shallower depths where the dykes split into a complex stockwork of veins and veinlets. The stockwork zones are approximately 270m (N-S) by 350m (E-W) and are considered to be a result of magma degassing in response to reducing confining pressures and the formation of multiple sets of tensional fractures by the expanding gas exsolving from the ascending magma. A direct consequence of this model is the higher density of veins close to the central feeder zones, with decreasing vein abundance with increasing distance from the feeder zones. The vertical extent over which niobium mineralisation has been identified to a depth approximately 600m, however the drilling density is significantly higher in Boa Vista.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits202320222021202020192018201720162015
Niobium t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe7,4898,9578,6746,2596,300
All production numbers are expressed as metal in alloy. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics2022202120202019201820172016
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,190 kt
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2.09 Mt2.27 Mt
Annual mining capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe14 Mt
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3.1 Mt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Financials

Units2017
Capital expenditures M USD
Revenue M RMB 1,670  
Operating Income M RMB 151.3  
Pre-tax Income M RMB 151.3  
After-tax Income M RMB 149.2  
EBIT M USD
EBITDA M USD

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 31, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 27, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 31, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jul 31, 2023

EmployeesContractorsTotal WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required ...... Subscription required 2015

Aerial view:

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