Niobium Sale Postponed due to Environmental Fears
10/17/97
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Headline: Niobium Sale Postponed due to Environmental Fears
Source: Reuters
Date: 10/17/97
Author: Jeremy Smith
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Brazil has postponed a
tender to sell the mineral rights to its largest known niobium
deposit because of environmental concerns, the state-owned
Mineral Resources Exploration Company (CPRM) said Friday.
``We have postponed it for another four months because we
had a problem with IBAMA, the government's environmental
agency,'' said Vitor Hugo, spokesman at CPRM's Rio de Janeiro
office.
``This happened because the deposit lies in an environmental
zone in the Amazon. It hasn't been cancelled, just postponed,''
he said. The new date set is February 13 after this week's
original deadline of October 16. Hugo gave no further details.
The 2.9 billion tonne reserve, containing niobium oxide at a
concentration of 2.81 percent, lies near the source of the Rio
Negro in the northern state of Amazonas.
the deposit is located in 10,000 hectares of the Pico da Neblina
national park, an area of virgin Amazonian rainforest home to one
of the highest number of natural species reported in Brazil.
Brazil has been estimated to possess more than 80 percent of
the world's reserves of niobium, better known in the U.S. as
colombium.
CPRM said the structure of its Amazonian deposit also
contained iron and titanium, along with smaller occurrences of
phospates and manganese.
Niobium is a raw material used for superconductors and
special steels. Some eight percent of the world's steel output
contain the metal.
Hugo said the tender has attracted interest from 10 parties,
all of whom had now been advised of the new date of the sale.
The 10 were CBMM, already a niobium producer, Estrela do
Brasil Emprendimentos, Companhia de Emprendimentos Industriais,
Rio Doce Geologia (CVRD), Minorco Brasil, Banco Rural,
Organizacoes SR, Rio Tinto Desenvovimento Minerais, Goldrly
Administracoes e Participacoes and Instituto Socioambiental.
According to the original tender terms, the winner must pay
a tax of 600,000 reais ($550,460) in four instalments over a one-
year period as well as at least three percent in royalties on all
sales from the reserve.