Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM:HZM) (TSX:HZM)
('Horizonte' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce that it has
been granted the definitive Water Permit (Outorga in Portuguese),
for industrial water consumption at the planned Araguaia Nickel
Project (‘Araguaia’) by the Brazilian Pará State Environmental
Agency (‘SEMAS’). The Water Permit, granted to Horizonte’s wholly
owned subsidiary, Araguaia Níquel Metais Ltda., is another key
permit and brings the Company closer to its objective of being
‘construction-ready’, by the end of 2018.
Highlights
- SEMAS has approved the Water Permit for abstraction and
industrial use at Araguaia;
- The permit guarantees access to water, required for the
full-scale commercial operation at Araguaia, including mining and
beneficiation plant activities;
- The approval of the Water Permit further de-risks Araguaia, as
it ensures that the project will have sufficient water to conduct
open-pit mining operations and operate the process plant
continuously for 24 hours a day, 365 days per year;
Horizonte CEO, Jeremy Martin,
commented:
“The approval and award of the water permit is
another significant milestone in the development of the Araguaia
Project. The availability of water for mining projects is a
key risk in many countries, the permit guarantees the Company
access to the water required for the mining and processing to
produce 14,500 tonnes of nickel per year.
Elsewhere on the project we are working towards
the completion of the Feasibility Study due mid-year, together with
advancing the final permits required to ensure the project is
construction ready and moving forwards with strategic initiatives
relating to the project financing."
Details on the Water Permit
Horizonte has conducted multiple years of
baseline environmental data collection in the region, including
flow monitoring of the Arraias River. Water is planned to be pumped
from the Arraias River through a pipeline approximately 11 km to
the water cooling dam which will be located beside the Araguaia
beneficiation plant.
Environmental Resource Management (‘ERM’)
consultants in the United Kingdom developed an integrated water
balance hydrological model with input from the other FS consulting
groups and Horizonte’s engineering team. The water balance
reflects the seasonal conditions of northern Brazil and ensures
water requirements are met for continuous running of the process
plant during 24 hours a day over the Life of Mine. Araguaia’s
planned operation includes a closed-circuit system and the Company
aims to recycle between 80%-90% of the total water used in the
process.
Infrastructure layouts were designed to take
advantage of the topography and drainage systems in the region,
thereby further increasing the sustainability of the project.
Details of infrastructure layouts will be released in the FS, due
to be announced in mid-2018.
The Water Permit is designed to regulate
Araguaia’s water consumption for commercial mining operations and
the Permit sets out the conditions and requirements for us to
continue to successfully protect the environment in which we
operate. Horizonte is continuing its discussions with SEMAS to
progress additional permits necessary to commence construction of
the Araguaia project.
The abstraction limits specified in the Water
Permit allows for the required water consumption, including
contingency, envisaged in the Feasibility Study.
The Araguaia Nickel
ProjectAraguaia, which is 100% owned by Horizonte, is
located on the eastern margin of the State of Pará, north-eastern
Brazil, in the Municipal of Conceição do Araguaia (population of
46,206), south of the main Carajás Mining District.
The region has good infrastructure in place
including rail, road, water and power. Araguaia plans to produce
around 14,500 tonnes of contained nickel in approximately 50,000
tonnes of ferronickel per year from processing 0.9 million tonnes
of ore via the proven and widely utilized Rotary Kiln Electric
Furnace (RKEF) process route.
This announcement contains inside information
for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
For further information visit www.horizonteminerals.com or
contact:
Contacts:
Horizonte Minerals plc.Jeremy Martin (CEO) +44 (0)203 356
2901
Numis Securities Limited (Broker)John Prior/James Black/Paul
Gillam+44 (0)207 260 1000
FinnCap Ltd (NOMAD & Joint Broker)Christopher Raggett/ James
Thompson /Anthony Adams / Emily Morris+44 (0) 20 7220 0500
Shard Capital (Joint Broker)Damon Heath / Erik Woolgar+44 (0) 20
7186 9952
Tavistock (Financial PR) Gareth Tredway / Jos Simson /
Barney Hayward +44 (0) 20 7920 3150
About Horizonte Minerals:
Horizonte Minerals plc is an AIM and TSX-listed
nickel development company focused in Brazil, which wholly owns the
advanced Araguaia nickel laterite project located south of Carajás
and the Vermelho nickel-cobalt project located in the Carajás
mineral district of northern Brazil.
The Company is developing Araguaia as the next
major nickel mine in Brazil, with targeted production by
2021. The Project has good infrastructure in place including
rail, road, water and power.
Horizonte has a supportive shareholder structure
including Teck Resources Limited, Canaccord Genuity Group, Richard
Griffiths, Lombard Odier Asset Management (Europe) Limited, JP
Morgan, City Financial and Glencore.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING
FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION
Except for statements of historical fact
relating to the Company, certain information contained in this
press release constitutes “forward-looking information” under
Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information
includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the
potential of the Company’s current or future property mineral
projects; the success of exploration and mining activities; cost
and timing of future exploration, production and development; the
estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the
Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral
resources, and the realization of mineral resource and reserve
estimates. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified
by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”,
“expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”,
“scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or
“does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words
and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results
“may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be
achieved”. Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable
assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in
light of its experience and its perception of trends, current
conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that
management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the
circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are
inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity,
performance or achievements of the Company to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
information, including but not limited to risks related to:
exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with
greater capital; the Company’s lack of experience with respect to
development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices;
uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements;
exploration, mining and other licences; the Company’s future
payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the
Company’s title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the
Company’s dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing
in the future; the Company’s dependence on its relationships with
third parties; the Company’s joint ventures; the potential of
currency fluctuations and political or economic instability
in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange
fluctuations; the Company’s ability to manage its growth
effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the
Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company’s plans to
continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company’s
dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of
directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated
with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company
operates. Although management of the Company has attempted to
identify important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in forward-looking
information, there may be other factors that cause results not to
be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results
and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements.
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