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 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.

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