Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) is the winner of an international competition for the research, evaluation and exploration of a potash deposit in the Neuquen Province, on the Colorado River banks, Argentina.
The area to be explored is located in one of the last unexplored potash basins in the world and has potential world-class deposits.
CVRD will develop studies during the next two years to identify and evaluate such deposits.
If the feasibility of the project is proved, its production will be directed to the Brazilian and Argentine markets.
CVRD has been a player in the fertilizer market since 1992 through the production and marketing of potash from the Taquari-Vassouras Mine, located in Sergipe state, Brazil.
It has a nominal production capacity of 600,000 tons of potash per year, which is being expanded to 850,000 tons by the second half of 2005.
All the potash produced in Taquari-Vassouras, the only potash mine under operation in Brazil, is sold in the Brazilian market, which consumes around 6.3 million tons of potash per year.
The Neuquem project enables CVRD to remain in the potash business, and, at the same time, to increase its international operations. CVRD´s entrance in mining in Argentina should be beneficial to both countries, consolidating its commercial relationship.
Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
www.cvrd.com.br
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