Undergoing tests since 2020, the initiative reuses tailings that would be discarded in a dam, through biotechnology. With an investment of BRL 2.3 million, the project was completed this month and by the end of the year will yield BRL 24 million in increased revenue for the company.

Aware of the growing demand and anticipating the search for alternatives to increase the production of phosphates and reduce dependence on foreign inputs, CMOC Brasil, a multinational in the segment of mining and processing of niobium and phosphates, has developed a project that prevents hundreds of thousands of tons of tailings from being disposed in one of its dams in Goiás. The initiative, tested since 2020, was developed with an investment of BRL 2.3 million and the month of April marks the beginning of sales operations for reused phosphate material. The company celebrates the success of the research and the success of the initiative that meets the Brazilian National Fertilizer Plan (presented in March by the Ministry of Agriculture), helps Brazil to achieve its environmental goals and boosts CMOC Brasil's Phosphate business with additional revenue estimated at BRL 24 million still in 2022.

At the Ouvidor (GO) Phosphate Mine, the tailings deposited in the dam mostly contain magnetic ferrous materials or sludge with low and medium levels of phosphate (P₂O₅). The use of these tailings is not technically adequate via the traditional chemical processing for the production of superphosphate, which aroused CMOC Brasil's interest in studying sustainable alternatives to reuse it, reduce environmental impacts, and make what would be discarded profitable.

This scenario proved possible with the partnership between the company and the IFB Group, a company specialized in the production of organo-phosphate fertilizers, obtained through the bio-solubilization of phosphate rock and organic material. The joint research work started in 2020 and demonstrated results in the biological processing of the Phosphate Mine tailings using fungi and bacteria designed to break the phosphorus chains and make the P2O5 available for plant uptake and nutrition.

The product created with the reuse of tailings was named low-content Apatite Concentrate and falls into the class of raw materials for organo-mineral fertilizers.  Produced with mineral sources of phosphorus and organic waste - produced on cattle farms (manure), farms (eggshells and manure), and sugar cane (bagasse), the organophosphate fertilizer produced by the IFB group is considered a complementary alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers.

A fundamental part of the success of the initiative to reuse the tailings for the manufacture of organo-mineral fertilizers refers to the partnerships that enable the development of research and also the technical and operational adequacy for the sale of the product marketed by CMOC, as explained by Thiago Drumond, Commercial Manager of Phosphate at CMOC Brazil. “Two years ago, the company started the feasibility study project to drain and separate part of the waste generated to sell it to the organo-mineral fertilizer industry. The initial investment of BRL 2.3 million comes from a contribution made by the IFB Group. This month, the project was completed and we are ready to start billing and shipping this new product. We estimate that, still in 2022, 105 thousand tons of low-grade Apatite Concentrate will be delivered, with an increase of USD 5.2 million (about BRL 24 million) in our revenue from material that was once discarded in our dam”.

In addition to the success in financial terms, the teams involved in the project celebrate and envision the fact that the project fits the company's own ESG goals, the challenges indicated by the mining sector and the Brazilian Federal Government. “This organo-mineral fertilizer has been cited as a trend both in the Sectoral Plan, for adaptation to climate change and low agricultural carbon emissions, as well as in the National Fertilizer Plan. These documents are guides to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture and to alleviate the Brazilian dependence on imported fertilizers. This month, we started to transform tailings into revenue and possibilities to meet the demand of the Brazilian fertilizer market”, says Drumond.