A mega-mining project is about to get started in Brazil

Potássio do Brasil may soon start the construction of a mine to develop deposits of the giant Amazonian potassium-bearing basin (Brazil). The company announced this project back in 2010, wanting to start the extraction of potash salts in 2015-2016, however, the protests of the local Indian communities managed to slow down the project worth 2.5 billion dollars.

Today, with President Jair Bolsonaro in power, Potássio do Brasil has a good chance to move this mining project forward without any indigenous consultation (as required by the international law). For Brazil, it is of strategic importance: being one of the world’s largest exporters of agricultural crops, it is forced to import over 70% of its potash fertilizers.

Moreover, the construction of the potash mine has aroused interest from the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, whose representatives have already discussed the possible involvement with the administration of the Amazonas state. And the Chinese money would go into the project through Potássio do Brasil if the deal is clinched.

Source: Mongabay