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Brazil

Araguaia Project

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusTemporary Suspension
Commodities
  • Nickel
  • Iron Ore
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotAraguaia Nickel Project is a Tier 1 mining project with a high-grade scalable resource. The area has a well-developed infrastructure, including roads, rail, and hydroelectric power as a result of the sustained mining activity in Carajás.

On April 15, 2024, Horizonte Minerals Plc announced that, after a period of discussions to restructure the group’s debt in conjunction with seeking a fully funded solution for its 100%-owned Araguaia Nickel Project and actively engaging existing and new potential investors, the Company has been unable to secure interest in the full financing needed to complete the Project or in a group acquiring the Project. Horizonte must now consider alternative options for the Company’s subsidiaries in the interest of its secured creditors, which may include raising financing at the subsidiary level, a sale of the Project whilst in care and maintenance, the liquidation of the assets of the Project, or other options available under Brazilian laws.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Horizonte Minerals Plc. 100 % Indirect
ANP is wholly owned by HZM through its Brazilian subsidiaries, Araguaia Niquel Mineração Ltda., Typhon Brasil Mineração Ltda, and Trias Brasil Mineração Ltda.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Laterite
  • Sedimentary

Summary:

The Project lies within the north to south trending Neoproterozoic Araguaia Fold Belt.

The belt comprises metamorphosed and deformed marine-clastic sediments of the Tocantins Group and is split into two formations based on the degree of metamorphism present. The prospective areas of HZM are located in the western Couto de Magalhães Formation which contains weakly metamorphosed, marine pelites with local carbonate, iron-rich, and mafic to ultramafic bodies.

The local geology has largely been interpreted from airborne geophysical survey data, soil sampling data, mapping and core drilling by HZM and previous owners of the tenements. Various types of metasediments cover the vast majority of the licence area. Large plateau areas, varying in size from a few hundred square metres to several square kilometres, and generally capped with a hard iron-rich duricrust that is occasionally silicified are frequently developed over mafic and ultramafic bodies. These bodies and numerous northwest-southeast to north-south trending lineaments have been identified from magnetic data and outcrop. These bodies are often bounded by a siliceous breccia. Bodies of pillow lava and other volcanic material also exist. The area is cut by numerous mafic dykes.

A distinctive lateritic sequence is developed over ultramafic and mafic rocks within the Project area and the same sequence can be recognised at each of the target sites though the thickness and extent of each facies varies from location to location. The sequence can be split into six main facies types: soil, ferricrete, limonite, transition, saprolite and fresh rock, as well as numerous sub-facies.

The Project can be divided into Araguaia Nickel North (ANN) and Araguaia Nickel South (ANS). The ANN section comprises the Vale dos Sonhos (VDS) deposit. ANS comprises the following deposits:
- Jacutinga (JAC);
- Vila Oito West (VOW);
- Vila Oito (VOI);
- Vila Oito East (VOE);
- Pequizeiro (PQZ);
- Pequizeiro West (PQW);
- Baião (BAI).

The target mineralisation of the Project area is characteristic of typical nickel laterite deposits formed in a seasonally wet tropical climate, on weathered and partially erpentinised ultramafic rocks. Features of nickel laterites include:
- The nickel is derived from altered olivine, pyroxene and serpentine that constitute the bulk of tectonically emplaced ultramafic oceanic crust and upper mantle rocks.
- Lateritisation of serpentinised peridotite bodies occurred during the Tertiary period and the residual products have been preserved as laterite profiles over plateaus/amphitheatres, elevated terraces and ridges/spurs.
- The process of formation starts with hydration, oxidation, and hydrolysis, within the zone of oxidation, of the minerals comprising the ultramafic protore.
- The warm/hot climate and the circulation of meteoric water (the pH being neutral to acid and the Eh being neutral to oxidant) are essential to this process. Silicates are in part dissolved, and the soluble substances are carried out of the system.
- This process results in the concentration of nickel in the regolith in hydrated silicate minerals and hydrated iron oxides; nickel and cobalt also concentrate in manganese oxides. The regolith hosting nickel laterite deposits is typically 10 m to 50 m thick, but can exceed 100 m.
- Concentration of the nickel by leaching from the limonite zone and enrichment in the underlying saprolite zones is also common. Leaching of magnesium +/- silicon causes nickel and iron to become relatively concentrated in the limonite zone. Nickel is released by recrystallisation and dehydration of iron oxy-hydrides and is slowly leached downwards through the profile, both vertically and laterally, re-precipitating at the base with silicon and magnesium to form an absolute concentration within the saprolite.
- The degree of the nickel concentration and the detailed type of regolith profile developed is determined by several factors including climate, geomorphology, drainage, lithology composition, and structures in the parent rock, acting over time.
- A typical laterite profile contains three distinct horizons (limonite, transition and saprolite).

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

CommodityUnitsAvg. AnnualLOM
Nickel kt 14426
Iron kt 32995
All production numbers are expressed as metal in alloy.

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual ore mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual mining rate  ....  Subscribe
Annual milling capacity  ....  Subscribe
Stripping / waste ratio  ....  Subscribe
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Total tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe
Tonnes processed, LOM  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2021 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Total cash costs Nickel USD  ....  Subscribe
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Nickel USD  ....  Subscribe
C1 cash costs Nickel USD  ....  Subscribe
Assumed price Nickel USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2021 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

Currency2021
OP mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2021 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Closure costs $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
OP OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Processing OpEx $M USD 87.8
Total Taxes $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Royalty payments $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscribe

Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 31, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Mar 31, 2021
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 26, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 26, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 26, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Dec 26, 2023

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2018

Aerial view:

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