Centaurus Metals (ASX: CTM) has positioned itself to expand the company's manganese exploration portfolio by entering into an option to acquire a project located in south-eastern Brazil.
The option is over the Ribeirão Manganese Project, strategically located 120 kilometres from Gerdau’s 4.5mtpa Açominas Steel Facility, 200 kilometres from the open access export port of Sepetiba and 25 kilometres from the open access MRS railway line.
Centaurus will pay US$60,000 for an exclusive six month option over the project, during which time exploration activities will be undertaken to assess the exploration target and the potential to host an economic project.
The company can exercise the option any time during the option period through the payment of an up-front purchase amount and a future Net Smelter Royalty on all manganese production over a specified final product tonnage threshold.
Ribeirão comprises three tenements, two with final reports approved and one exploration lease, which cover 7 square kilometres which were mined by artisanal workers several decades earlier from an open pit.
The project has an exploration target of 1 to 2 million tonnes at 25% to 33% manganese.
Centaurus said that the mineralisation evident in the old pit is a manganese oxide with supergenic enrichment, and early stage crushing and screening indicates that a saleable product can be produced at a size fraction greater than 10mm.
The interest by Centaurus to expand the company's manganese interests in Brazil is due to the high demand for the product from the local steel mills.