Adjacent to the Cerrado Verde Potash Project, Verde holds a phosphate exploration project at its Apatita property. Phosphate is a non-renewable resource essential to all life forms. As is the case with potash, phosphate is a key component of agricultural fertilizer formulations. The mineralization is sedimentary phosphate rock of Cretaceous age. An initial drilling program in two of the three phosphate prospects tested at Apatita identified mineralized phosphate between 0.01% and 9.57% P2O5 with widths of between 1m and 22m. The Company plans to continue drilling, targeting an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate. In addition, Verde will continue its exploration on five other prospects that have been identified along a 30km strike length by the regional mapping and surface grab sampling programme.
Click here to view press release about phosphate discovery at Cerrado Verde Project, Brazil.
Brazil is the world’s second largest importer of phosphate. In 2008, more than 45% of the 3.2Mt of P2O5 consumed was imported. Early in 2010, Vale S.A. spent nearly US $6 billion acquiring seven main phosphate assets; six of which are located less than 250km away from Verde’s Cerrado Verde Potash project. The P2O5 grade for Vale’s recently acquired Brazilian phosphate assets range from 5.45% to 11.12% P2O5.