Brazil Potash gets state licence for disputed Autazes mine

The state of Amazonas in Brazil has issued a licence to Brazil Potash to built the Autazes project, pegged to be the largest fertilizer mine within the Amazon rainforest.

The license was granted by the state’s environmental protection agency, IPAAM. The company intends to invest 13 billion reais (US$2.6 billion) to build the mine, 120 km southeast of the state capital Manaus.

The project, which could reduce Brazilian agriculture’s 90% dependence on imported potash, has been held up for years due to opposition from Indigenous Mura people who say they have not been consulted about the use of their ancestral lands.

In October, Federal Judge Marcos Augusto de Souza suspended a lower court decision that ruled that if the land is demarcated Indigenous in the future, then only Brazil’s Congress and federal agency Ibama could authorize mining in the area.

Federal prosecutors, however, said on Tuesday that the licence should come from Brazil’s environmental protection agency, IBAMA, and not from the state agency.

“The licence violates constitutional rights, international standards and also the rights of Indigenous peoples,” the federal prosecutors office in Manaus said in a statement.

The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Amazon — APIAM, an Indigenous rights organization, told MINING.COM that the Mura people’s communities were not consulted, nor was the Indigenous Component Study conducted in the environmental licensing process.

Indigenous leaders told news website Amazonia Real that they will not accept the state decision.

The proposed mine and processing facilities would take about three years to build.

The project would be built on low density cattle farm land, deforested several decades ago by prior owners, Brazil Potash said. According to the company, the orebody is not located under Indigenous land, but is within 10 km of two reserves, requiring consultations with locals.

“For several years, Brazil Potash has been waiting for this moment to show that it is possible to have a sustainable mining operation in the Amazon region,” company president Adriano Espeschit said in a release. “With the Autazes potash project’s support from the Mura Indigenous people, we can show the world that it is possible to have more development for local communities with a better quality of life.”

Production is expected to start in 2026 with an initial output sufficient to cover about 20% of Brazil’s potash needs. Project capacity is pegged at 2.2 million tonnes of potassium chloride per year, according to the company.