Fagundes Construção e Mineração (Fagundes) is one of the best-known mining contractors in Brazil, currently working in seven of Brazil’s 27 states, across a variety of base metals
Horizonte Minerals signs mining services agreement for Araguaia Nickel Project. (Credit: Michael Gaida from Pixabay)
Horizonte Minerals Plc (AIM/TSX: HZM) (“Horizonte” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a five-year mining services agreement, thereby securing services for mining, stock pile generation, plant feeding and slag handling activities for its 100%-owned Araguaia Nickel Project (“Araguaia” or “the Project”) in Brazil, where construction is underway and first production remains on track to commence in Q1-2024.
The contract has been awarded to Fagundes Construção e Mineração (“Fagundes”) a leading Brazilian company with a strong track record of providing mining services in Pará State. The five-year contract (with an option to extend for a further five years) is in line with Horizonte’s operating cost assumptions stated in the feasibility study, and represents another key de-risking milestone, ensuring that the operational costs will be in the lower quartile of the nickel cost curve.
Fagundes will provide a mining fleet consisting of over 70 units at any one time linked to the phase of mining sequence and seasonality, comprising leading brands in terms of safety, embedded technology, performance and reliability. The core mining fleet will include 45 tonne hydraulic excavators, 35 tonne dump trucks, 28 tonne articulated trucks and 18 tonne wheel loaders.
All services provided by Fagundes will comply with Horizonte’s health, safety and environmental standards (HSE), in addition to the current legislation. HSE was a core focus for the Company during the tender and now the mobilisation process, with Horizonte able to select from a broad group of pre-qualified equipment operators active in the region. Horizonte’s management will work closely with Fagundes to provide direction, governance and support as mobilisation of the mining services team is completed and pre-stripping activities begin in early Q2 2023.
Jeremy Martin, CEO of Horizonte Minerals, commented:
“We are pleased to be working alongside Fagundes, a leading mining contractor which has been operating in Brazil for over 35 years. With other clients such as Vale and Anglo American, they are an experienced operator with a solid track record. The signing of the mining services contract is an exciting step forward with pre stripping activities due to begin in early Q2 2023, the next step in our journey from a developer to a producer.
“Construction activities at Araguaia continue to run on schedule and on budget, with first nickel expected in Q1 2024. As we hit each of our milestones, we continue to move closer to unlocking the full value of Araguaia, and more broadly across Horizonte’s portfolio of Tier 1 assets, realising our objective of becoming a low-cost nickel producer.”
Source: Company Press Release