Overview
Status | Inactive / Suspended |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
|
Mine Life | 20 years (as of Jan 1, 2016) |
Source:
p. 12, 29
In March 2015, the Company’s Peruvian subsidiary, Agrifos Peru S.A.C. completed a purchase agreement with the shareholders (the “Vendors”) of Juan Paulo Quay S.A.C. (JPQ), titleholder of the Bayovar 12 phosphate mining concession (the “Bayovar 12 Project”) located in Northern Peru, whereby the CROPS acquired a 70% interest in shares of JPQ (the “Bayovar Interest”).
During the period ended June 30, 2020, CROPS and the Vendors began a process for JPQ to relinquish the Bayovar 12 Project.
The CROPS is currently taking the necessary steps to dissolve Juan Paulo Quay, SAC (“JPQ”), the Peru company which holds the Bayovar 12 concession, and to transfer the concession back to the Peru government.
Summary:
The Bayovar-Sechura Phosphate Deposit occurs in the Sechura Basin, a shallow north trending basin situated in northwestern Peru. The basin is filled by a thick sequence of interlayered marine sediments including phosphorite, diatomite, sandstone, shale and volcanic tuff, ranging in age from Eocene (56.0 to 33.90 Ma) at the base to Pliocence (5.33 to 2.58 Ma) in the upper basin.
The phosphate bearing units occur in the upper 135 to 215 m of the Miocene (23.22 to 5.33 Ma) strata in the basin, within the Zapallal Formation. The phosphorite beds are comprised primarily of massively bedded phosphate pellets with lesser grains and fragments of diatoms, volcanic glass; evaporate salts; quartz; feldspar; sponge fragments; gypsum, mica flakes and organic matter. The phosphate is marine in origin and is generally in the form of the mineral francolite, a fluorhydroxycarbonate apatite.
The apatite is generally in the form of individual pellets although agglomerations of pellets, oolites, laminae, nodules and fragments of teeth, bones or shells are also present. The pellet grain size ranges from 0.4 to 2.0 mm in diameter, with larger pellets occurring in the phosphorite beds while finer grained pellets occur in the diatomite.
The diatomite ranges in color from white to brown to olive green. The diatomite generally has high porosity, often on the order of 90%; as a result of this and its resistance to compaction, the specific gravity is very low, typically the wet density is around 1.5.
The Zapallal Formation stratigraphy dips gently to the east within the Bayovar 12 Concession. No faulting or folding was identified within the concession.
Focus has intercepted 16 distinct and correlatable phosphorite beds (identified as PH01 through PH16) across the concession. Focus and Golder have interpreted the upper 13 phosphorite beds (PH01 to PH13) as Diana ore zone beds that have been modeled as mineral resources. The phosphorite beds range in thickness from 0.31 meters to 1.76 meters. The individual phosphorite beds exhibit relatively uniform thickness and P2O5 grade profiles across the concession; however, there is a pronounced zonation of P2O5 grades in both the phosphorite and diatomite beds that effectively divides the Diana ore zone into an Upper Diana ore zone and Lower Diana ore zone.
Summary:
The Project Site is contained within a low- lying, open, generally flat area, with elevations varying from 0 m to 30 m above mean sea level (amsl). The Bayovar 12 phosphorite deposit dips between 1°and 2° toward the north-northeast with sixteen primary capas, thirteen of which will be mined. Front end loaders (FEL) are the primary method of waste stripping with surface miners to extract the phosphorite and a portion of the interburden. All waste will be hauled to a waste storage facility (WSF), while phosphorite will be hauled to the plant using trucks.
The phosphorite extraction will be executed by a multiple bench open-pit haul-back mine. Initial mining requires ex-pit storage of waste rock, both overburden and interburden. Once a sufficient volume has been excavated, the waste rock is back-hauled into the mined-out area.
For the 1.0 Mtpy mine production plan, overburden will be stripped by Focus personnel. Overburden excavation will advance ahead of the phosphorite extraction in 5-m height production benches. Interburden will be stripped and removed with a front-end loader, or when the interburden is too thin, a dozer or surface miner.
Flow Sheet:
Summary:
The phosphate beneficiation plant processes mined phosphate ore to produce phosphate concentrate. The ore is mined from thirteen phosphate-rich capas. A single plant will beneficiate the Bayovar 12 ore. Mode A will produce on average 500,000 dry mtpy of DAPR concentrate annually with a target grade of 24% P2O5. Mode B will produce 500,000 dry mtpy of DAPR with a target grade of 28% P2O5. The beneficiation process consists of desliming, dewatering to 15% moisture and drying to 4% moisture using unit operations including drum washing, size classification, attrition scrubbing, hydraulic classification, filtering, and fluid bed drying. The process uses seawater throughout: the product is not rinsed with freshwater to remove salts.
Recoveries & Grades:
Commodity | Parameter | Avg. LOM |
Phosphate rock
|
Head Grade, %
| 12.9 |
Phosphate rock
|
Concentrate Grade, %
| ......  |
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Projected Production:
Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
Phosphate rock
|
kdmt
| 1,000 | 20,696 |
All production numbers are expressed as concentrate.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | |
Stripping / waste ratio
| 7.19 * |
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 422,541 kt * |
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 58,772 kt * |
Daily production capacity
| 2,740 dmt of phosphate rock concentrate * |
Annual production capacity
| 1,000 kdmt of phosphate rock concentrate * |
* According to 2016 study.
Reserves at May 16, 2016:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade |
Proven
|
14.35 Mt
|
P2O5
|
12.74 %
|
Probable
|
44.42 Mt
|
P2O5
|
13 %
|
Proven & Probable
|
58.77 Mt
|
P2O5
|
12.93 %
|
Measured
|
17.7 Mt
|
P2O5
|
13.16 %
|
Indicated
|
209.5 Mt
|
P2O5
|
13.04 %
|
Inferred
|
102.2 Mt
|
P2O5
|
13.11 %
|
Mine Management:
Job Title | Name | Ref. Date |
.......................
|
.......................
|
Oct 13, 2020
|
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Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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