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Brazil

Boa Vista Mine

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusActive
Commodities
  • Niobium
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotThe Mina Boa Vista, an open-pit mine located in Catalão, is the primary source of pyrochlore, one of the main niobium minerals.

Niobium ore is sourced from three pits over the mine life, these include the Boa Vista, Mina I, and Mina II. Mina I and Mina II are located within the Chapadão final pit design.

The ore is transported by trucks to the refining plant in Ouvidor, 23 km from the mine (the Boa Vista Concentration Plant).

During 2024, construction of the northeastern dumping site has completed vegetation removal and surface clearance works. The mine expansion works and the project of underground drainage pumping system of the mine continued implementation. Preliminary work for the construction of the drainage system project of the BVFR and BVO abrasion systems were being prepared.

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
  • Vein / narrow vein

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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Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityUnits20252024202320222021202020192018201720162015
Niobium t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe7,489 8,957 8,674 6,259 6,300 
All production numbers are expressed as metal in alloy. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics202420232022202120202019201820172016
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,190 kt
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2.09 Mt2.27 Mt
Annual mining capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe14 Mt
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3.1 Mt

Production Costs

Commodity production costs have not been reported.

Mine Financials

Units20242023202220212017
Capital expenditures M USD
Revenue M RMB  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 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

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 17, 2025

Workforce

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

Aerial view:

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