Brazil Potash creates advisory board as it tries to advance US$2.5bn Amazonas project

Brazil Potash Group announced the formation of an advisory board as it is trying to overcome challenges in the advance of its US$2.5bn potash project in Autazes municipality, Amazonas state.

The advisory board will be comprised of seven executives, chaired by Mayo Schmidt, former chairman and CEO of Nutrien, a global supplier of crop inputs and services, and also ex-CEO of Viterra and Hydro One. 

Also on the board will be Kátia Abreu, former Brazilian agriculture minister and an ex-senator, and Luis Adams, formerly national attorney general.

The others members of the board are Helio Diniz, the founder of Brazil Potash; Maria Claudia Guimaraes, ex-executive officer at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Brazil; Cidinho Santos, a former senator for Mato Grosso state; and William Steers, ex-director of Petro Rio.

In June, the company announced that it received the construction license for a processing plant. Overall, Amazonas state licensing agency IPAAM has issued 12 licenses for the project so far.

However, the federal public prosecutor's office filed a lawsuit in May requesting the suspension of the construction license for the sylvinite mine that was issued earlier this year. 

According to prosecutors, the permits must be issued by federal environmental agency Ibama rather than IPAAM. In addition, prosecutors claim that the works will be carried out in areas populated by the Mura indigenous people, whose lands are in the process of demarcation.