ASX-listed Aguia Resources will lease, rather than build, a 100,000tpa phosphate processing plant near Cacapava do Sul in Southern Brazil, fast-tracking expected production from its Pampafos deposit to mid-2025 and sidestepping a multi-million-dollar capex bill.
The company says the innovative deal will also save two years of construction time.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been inked by Aguia with Grupo Dagoberto Barcelos (DB), allowing the company to lease the DB facility for a period of 10 years with an additional 10-year option available for an initial payment of AU$1.3 million, paid in six monthly instalments.
Aguia has also agreed to pay a monthly rent of AU$43,000 starting in July next year, which equates to just AU$5.13 per tonne at the current maximum capacity of 100,000 tonne per annum.
Initially Aguia will produce out of its Pampafos deposit located about 100kms from the plant, however the medium term plan is to switch to two closer phosphate deposits, Mato Grande and Passo Feio where the company is looking to define a resource as quickly as possible. Drilling is already underway at Mato Grande and Passo Feio.
Aguia plans to integrate supplies from the two additional deposits that are only up to 8kms away from the plant in order to eventually replace the feed from Pamafos by 2026. Management says it will save $10 a tonne in trucking costs when it eventually switches to Mato Grande and Passo Feio.
Once operations have started, the company says it will consider using excess cash to fund the instalment of a second drying unit at the DB plant which it says should see production triple to more than 300,000tpa.
Notably, Aguia is confident of selling its final product within a 300km radius of the plant even with the increased production.
Aguia Resources executive chairman Warwick Grigor said: “It is expected that processing of Pampafos ore will commence in mid-2025, after completing some capital works, at the plant’s current rate of 100,000 tpa. Depending upon the speed of market penetration, Aguia will look to expand production at the DB plant as early as the start of 2026.”
The Brazilian phosphate market and in particular, the Rio Grande do Sul region, currently relies on 100 per cent of its phosphate needs from imported Moroccan product, priced at AU$344 a tonne.
Aguia says it will aim to price its product at between AU$120-$140 per tonne by saving significant amounts on sea freight and import duties.
Aguia believes its Pampafos product will prove to be popular with local farmers, not only because of its potential price advantage but also because of its superior effectiveness on crops when compared to chemical fertilisers, having been extensively tested on crops around the world during the past four years.
The company has also been focusing on its Santa Barbara gold project and the polymetallic gold-copper-silver-zinc El Dovio play in Colombia which it picked up after successfully taking over Andean Mining earlier in the year.
At Santa Barbara in particular, the company believes it could be in production as early as the first quarter of next year. Notably, there is already an existing 30-tonne per day processing facility on-site at Santa Barbara to treat the impressively rich ore going 20 grams per tonne. The company says a modest outlay of $2.5 million will increase capacity to 50 tonnes a day, generating around $120,000 a day in revenue.
Aguia’s plan to sidestep what would likely have amounted to many millions of dollars in capex at Pampafos by leasing rather than building a plant is an innovative solution and the company is fortunate to have that option available.
Its plan to also get into gold production at Santa Barbara is also innovative and will see the company make use of existing infrastructure in that region.
Aguia is fortunate to have low capex options available to it at both sites, unlike many of its ASX peers who continue to advance plans to build multi-million-dollar plants that often dilute everyone to almost nothing, many of which never get off the ground.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By James Pearson
