CVRD to invest over US$67mn in potassium by 2006

Brazilian mining giant CVRD plans to invest US$67.4mn up to 2006 in its potassium division, AE-Setorial reported, quoting Antonio Francisco Cisne Pessoa, general manager of the company's fertilizer products. The goal is to raise production to 850,000t/y from 645,000t of potassium chlorate - the basic ingredient for potassium-based fertilizers. "Since the consumption of potassium in Brazil is growing 5-7% a year, CVRD needs to invest to increase its share of this market," Pessoa said. After the expansion, CVRD will be able to attend to 16% of domestic demand, which reached 5.2Mt in 2003. Currently close to 90% of Brazil's potassium chlorate needs are covered by imports from Canada, Russia and Germany. In Brazil, CVRD is the sole producer of the product, extracted from its Taquari-Vassouras mine in northwest Sergipe state. This year, the company is slated to produce 640,000t of the potassium, slightly lower than the 731,000t produced in 2002. Revenue from the product should also fall to US$80mn from US$83mn in the same year-on-year comparison. With the expansion, the mine's exhaustion is slated for 2017. Rio de Janeiro-based CVRD has a market capitalization of US$22.8bn.