Brazil Potash’s Autazes Project Brings a Trio of Benefits to the Well-Established Potash Market
Brazil Potash, a Canada-based potash mining company, has presented a bold vision for a bold new potash project in Brazil that aims to both challenge the entrenched oligopoly in the industry and create a better future for Brazil. This project is the Autazes project.
Potash mining
Currently, there are two main ways to extract potash: conventional and solution. Conventional mining involves sinking shafts to reach underground potash and using drill rigs to extract it for transport to the surface where it is concentrated into a marketable product. With solution mining, hot water is piped to underground potash to dissolve it and bring it to the surface for processing.
The state of the potash market is currently controlled by a small group of companies, known as the oligopoly. This control gives these companies great power over pricing and availability. Brazil is a country heavily dependent on imported potash – the country imports 96% of the potash it needs, 47% of which comes from Russia and Belarus, both of which are sanctioned. This leaves Brazilian agriculture at the mercy of these foreign suppliers.
Brazil Potash will aim to challenge this market by introducing a new project with multiple competitive advantages. The first is the sheer size of the Amazon potash basin from which Brazil Potash’s Autazes project will source potash. The Amazon Potash Basin is estimated to be one of the largest proven potash fertilizer projects in the world, comparable to the huge potash basins of Canada and Russia where about 80% of the world’s potash comes from.
The project also has a major logistical advantage as it will be located on existing agricultural land close to the Amazon river system. Thanks to the favorable infrastructure, the ideal location and a successful feasibility study and an environmental and social impact assessment already completed, the Autazes project will be the cheapest source of potash for Brazil – a change major for the industry and the country.
Currently, the company is looking at a 23-year lifespan based on exploring only ~7% of the potential of the Amazon potash basins, with an estimated annual EBITDA of US$1.1 billion. Once the mine is in production, this could give Brazil Potash an approximate market capitalization of between US$7 billion and US$10 billion based on its planned initial production of 2.4 million tonnes per year to meet around 20% of requirements. present in Brazil.
Autazes
The Autazes project is designed to be more than a revolutionary potash mine. The company sees the project as an impact project with benefits across multiple social and economic factors. The project will create approximately 5000 direct and indirect jobs over several decades of operation which will have a positive impact on the local and regional economy.
Brazil Potash has a strong ESG policy in place, with plans for investment in local school programs, ensuring that no primary rainforest is affected by the project (low footprint) and potash sourcing will continue to facilitate the reuse of existing arable land. contribute to further mitigating deforestation. The company has estimated that the project will reduce greenhouse gases by more than 1.3 million tonnes per year.
Potash mining is a capital-intensive process, but with a solid project and a favorable market, Brazil Potash is well positioned to rise to the challenge and become a new player in the potash industry.
Current roadmap
Brazil Potash has brought its Autazes project to a near construction-ready state after completing a bankable feasibility study, environmental and social impact assessment and public hearings with over 4,000 people, including ongoing indigenous consultations .
The next step will see the company raise the US$2.1 billion needed to build the Autazes project to put it into operation to provide this essential nutrient to feed not only the people of Brazil, but people around the world. .