PHOSPHATE: MBAC’s Itafs plant reaches daily record

BRAZIL – The first grassroots fertilizer plant to be built in northern Brazil in more than a decade, the Itafós mine belonging to MBAC Fertilizer Corp. of Toronto, has hit a new daily record of 1,700 tonnes of single super phosphate (SSP) fertilizer. Not only was this a daily record, it exceeded the design capacity of the plant.

The company expects to achieve commercial production in a few weeks. That rate is approximately 42,000 tonnes per month. Production in the first half of September reached 9,165 tonnes of SSP and 6,488 tonnes of sulphuric acid.

The Itafós project consists of an open pit mine plus separate plants for beneficiation, sulphuric acid, acidulation, and granulation. In 2013 the capital cost of the project was estimated to be US$323.1 million. The mine has a life of 19 years based on proven and probable reserves of 64.9 million tonnes grading 5.07% P₃O₅.

The corporate website is at MBACfert.com.