Brazil Potash wins key licence for Autazes

Brazil Potash Corp. says Amazonas state environmental agency IPAAM has granted the mine installation licence for the Autazes Potash Project to its 100%‑owned subsidiary Potássio do Brasil, allowing project construction to start. The approval follows years of environmental, social and technical studies, along with completion of “free, prior and informed” consultations with local Indigenous communities, and was announced at a ceremony led by Amazonas governor Wilson Lima with senior state officials and company management present.

The company plans to begin construction by awarding contracts for surface works and shaft sinking at Autazes, located near Manaus. Initial design capacity is 2.4 million tonnes per year of potash, with scope to lift output over time, and all production is earmarked for the Brazilian domestic market. Brazil Potash has also signed a strategic offtake and distribution agreement with Amaggi, positioning the project as a new in‑country supply source for large farm customers.

The project is being pitched as a structural response to Brazil’s fertiliser vulnerability. Brazil currently imports about 85% of its fertiliser needs and roughly 98% of its potash, with about half of that coming from countries that are at war or under sanctions, including Russia, Belarus and Israel. The company argues that tapping a large domestic potash basin in Amazonas will help shield the country’s agriculture sector from external shocks and reduce the foreign‑exchange cost of imported MOP.

Autazes is designed as an underground room‑and‑pillar operation using established processing technology. Ore will be mined, the potash separated using hot water, and sodium chloride tailings returned underground. Brazil Potash highlights the project’s greenhouse‑gas profile, pointing to Brazil’s predominantly renewable power grid and the elimination of 12,000–20,000km of shipping currently required to move imported potash to major soybean‑growing regions such as Mato Grosso. The company estimates Autazes could cut emissions by about 1.4 million tonnes of CO₂‑equivalent per year.