Brazil Potash opens process to hire suppliers, workers for US$2.5bn Autazes project

Potássio do Brasil, a subsidiary of Brazil Potash, announced the process to select suppliers and future employees for its US$2.5bn potash project in Autazes in Manaus state.

Interested suppliers can register at this link. Meanwhile, those interested in getting a job at the project can register here.

In the first phase of the project, which is expected to last four and a half years, an estimated 2,600 direct jobs are due to be generated, rising to a peak of 4,200, the company said in a statement.

The firm has received 11 licenses to begin implementing Potássio Autazes.

Earlier in the week, the company obtained six licenses from Amazonas state’s environmental licensing agency IPAAM. 

"The licenses granted enable progress in the implementation of the Potássio Autazes project complex, located 112km from Manaus, in the municipality of Autazes. The six new installation licenses cover a variety of activities, such as vegetation suppression, forest replacement, capture, collection and transport of wild fauna and earthworks at the mining terminal and the port," the firm said.

The project, however, is facing some resistance.

The public prosecutor's office (MPF) filed a lawsuit on May 14 requesting the suspension of the construction license to build the sylvinite mine that was issued earlier this year by IPAAM. 

According to prosecutors, licenses for the project must be issued by federal environmental agency Ibama rather than IPAAM. In addition, prosecutors claim that the works are planned to be carried out on traditional areas occupied by the Mura indigenous people, whose lands are in the process of demarcation.

The company, meanwhile, says it followed all rules and held all necessary consultation processes with indigenous peoples to move forward with the project.