The refurbishment of the Azteca processing plant at the Amapá iron ore project in Brazil being carried out by Cadence Minerals (KDNC ) is now 87% complete.
The programme continues to target operational readiness by the end of August 2026.
Commercial operations and shipments remain subject to successful commissioning and receipt of the operating licence
The hopper/feed system, transfer conveyor, screen and process tank are complete. The spiral concentrator is approximately 64% complete, against 50% planned at this stage.
Electrical installation has increased from approximately 43% to 69% completion.
Magnetic separation has reached approximately 75% completion and is the principal processing workstream to close out.
"Execution is what matters,” said Kiran Morzaria, chief executive of Cadence.
“Azteca has moved from 77% to 87% completion and is now in line with plan. Electrical installation was the principal execution focus in our previous update. It has advanced from 43% to 69% and is now in line with plan. The remaining work is defined. Magnetic separation is the principal processing workstream to close, together with the remaining piping, concentrator and electrical activities. Management's priority is straightforward: complete the refurbishment against the 31 August target, move into commissioning and complete the regulatory workstreams required before commercial operations can commence."
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Following completion of the refurbishment programme, the plant will progress into integrated commissioning, although commercial operations and shipments remain subject to successful commissioning, completion of the related regulatory workstreams and receipt of the operating licence. Once in production, the plan is to use Azteca to support the development of the wider Amapá project. This hosts a JORC-compliant resource of 276 million tonnes at 38% iron, with a proven and probable reserve of 195.8 million tonnes at 39.34%, so it’s big, and could also be very rich. Cadence’s staged approach to the redevelopment of Amapá continues to look judicious, especially as it continuing to plan. But the real opportunity will be counted in billions of dollars rather than millions.