(Alliance News) - Harvest Minerals Ltd on Thursday said it has received a full mining permit at the Arapua fertiliser project in Brazil.
The permit from Brazil's environmental department, the Superintendencia Regional de Regularizacao Ambiental, allows Harvest to mine and process up to 400,000 tonnes per year at Arapua.
Harvest added: "This capacity can be increased as and when required by extending the current environmental permit."
The company secured an environmental permit at Arapua in November, so the mining consent was the last regulatory hurdle for Harvest to clear.
Executive Chair Brian McMaster said: "We have been successfully mining and processing at Arapua since we were granted our guia de utilizacao or trial mining licence, in December 2016 and could continue to do so until December 2021. However, as we expect to reach profitability this year and have strong growth plans to build production, it was prudent to push for the award of the full mining permit which gives us full tenure over the project.
"When we started Arapua we had limited idea on its economic viability. Since then we have not only built and fully permitted an operating mine and processing facility but developed an entirely new remineraliser and fertiliser, and established a growing market for it."
Shares in the company were 2.1% higher at 3.93 pence each in London on Thursday afternoon.
By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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Harvest Mi (di) (HMI)