Yara completes divestment of Salitre phosphate mining project to EuroChem

Yara has announced that its divestment of the Salitre phosphate mining project in Brazil to EuroChem has successfully closed and it has received the total proceeds of US$452 million.

Serra do Salitre is an advanced-stage integrated upstream phosphates project in Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It comprises an open pit phosphate mine with more than 350 million t of reserves, and a 1 million tpy manufacturing plant for MAP/NP and SSP/TSP products which is due to come on-stream in 2023.

Yara entered into the Salitre project in 2014, and its assets comprise phosphate mining operations, including a tailing dam, with an annual production capacity of approximately 1200 kt of phosphate rock and an on-going project to construct phosphate processing operations with a projected production capacity of approximately 1000 kt per annum at completion. The estimated CAPEX required to reach completion is of a similar magnitude to the divestment value.

The project progress has been impacted by COVID-19 and significant construction time and CAPEX remains to reach completion, according to Yara.