overiew:

WA MINING EXPLORER SETTLES FOR POTASH IN BRAZIL

Sydney - Thursday - January 27: (RWE Aust Business News)
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OVERVIEW
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AGUIA RESOURCES LTD (ASX:AGR) has acquired large potash projects
in Brazil.
The conditional agreement to acquire a potentially large-scale
potash projects, located in northeast Brazil complements the company's
Brazilian phosphate projects enabling it to capitalise on the increasing
demand in the Brazilian fertiliser sector.
Highlights of the deal are:
* Aguia to acquire Potassio do Atlantico Ltda, a private mineral
exploration company with a primary focus on potash exploration and
development in the Sergipe Basin, Brazil;
* Adjacent to Brazil's only operating potash mine, Vale's
Taquari-Vassouras underground mine;
* Vale is developing a 1.2m tpa carnallite solution mining
project, has built a functioning pilot plant which has proved solution
mining of carnallite in the Sergipe basin is commercially feasible and
acquired environmental permitting;
* Project supported by data from 300 petroleum bore holes that
have reported a number of potash occurrences and 32,000 kms of existing
2D seismic data examined that has further highlighted the potential of
the region to host significant potash deposits;
* Initial land position of approximately 179,000 hectares in the
attractive carnallite potash bearing Sergipe-Alagoas basin;
* Proximity to existing infrastructure including power, gas, road
and port facilities;
* Projects are located in one of the largest global potash
markets - Brazil imports 90 per cent of its potash needs;
* An experienced in-country technical team is already assembled,
headed by Paulo Souza, an experienced mining engineer who was previously
involved in developing Vale's Carnallite Project and pilot plant; and
* Initial exploration will focus on the discovery and delineation
of a Mineral Resource estimate that can be reported in accordance with
the JORC Code.
The purchase of the projects will be triggered by Aguia acquiring
Potassio do Atlantico Ltda, a subsidiary of Potash Atlantico Corp (PAC),
a private Canadian company, associated with the Forbes & Manhattan Group.
The commercial terms of the acquisition, which is subject to
approval by Aguia shareholders, include the issue of 20 million ordinary
shares at settlement and 1.5 million options, with further ordinary
shares to be issued upon achievement of milestones involving independent
delineation, classification and reporting of mineral resources in
accordance with the JORC Code and/or NI 43-101 guidelines.
Mr Souza will be appointed general manager of Potash on
completion.
He is an experienced mining engineer with 26 years experience in
mine planning and operation including potash development projects with
Vale.
Aguia also intends, subject to shareholder approval, to undertake
a placement of at least $15 million to fund initial working capital on
the projects.
Brazil is Latin America's biggest economy and is heavily reliant
on imports of up to 50 per cent of its phosphate and 90 per cent of its
potash needs.
Agriculture accounts for a significant part of Brazil's economic
growth due to large areas of suitable land for agriculture and large
renewable freshwater resources.
Brazil has been over-reliant on imports partly due to
underinvestment in the agricultural sector.
The PAC potash project is located in the northeastern portion of
Brazil in the state of Sergipe.
The project sits to the west and northeast of the city of
Aracaju, the capital of Sergipe, with a population of 570,000 inhabitants
and a large-scale harbour.
PAC has acquired a 100 per cent interest in 107 exploration
claims totalling approximately 179,000 hectares consisting of five
property areas in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin.

SHARE PRICE MOVEMENTS
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Shares of Aguia Resources rose 12c to 67c on Tuesday. Rolling
high for the year is 70c and low 15c. The company has 60.6 million shares
on issue with a market cap of $40.6 million.
Directors say the projects are well located with excellent
infrastructure (roads, water, energy).
Fertiliser blenders are located in the project area, providing a
ready local market for the product.
The area has considerable oil exploration infrastructure, with
several companies having offices and warehouses in Aracaju including
Halliburton and Schlumberger Ltd.
The harbour is located 15 kms north of Aracaju and it is used for
the transport of oil, potash and heavy equipment.
The Muribeca Formation within the Sergipe Basin hosts an
important evaporate sequence, salt and potash deposits including
significant sylvinite and carnallitite deposits.
The potash salts occur in isolated sub-basins, of which the most
well known is the Taquari Vassouras basin.
Potash mineralisation was discovered in the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin
by Petromisa (Petrobras) during oil and gas exploration in the 1950s and
1960s.
The discovery of Sylvinite mineralisation resulted in the
commencement of mining at the Taquari-Vassouras underground mine in 1985,
first by Petrosima and later transferred to Vale in 1991.
In Sergipe there are also important deposits of carnallite-rock.
In anticipation of the sylvinite deposit becoming exhausted, Vale
has been working on a project to develop its much bigger reserves of
Carnallite surrounding the underground sylvinite operation.

BACKGROUND
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Aguia Resources, previously Newport Mining, was listed on the ASX
on February 13,2008.
The company's primary focus is on the exploration and development
of its potentially large-scale phosphate projects and other phosphate
opportunities in Brazil.
Through its subsidiary Aguia Metais Ltda it has an established a
highly experienced in-country management team based in Belo Horizonte,
with corporate offices in Perth and Sydney.
Aguia is well positioned to capitalise on the growing demand for
phosphorous-based fertilisers in the expanding agriculture sector in
Brazil and controls a large prospective land position of over 400,000
hectares, located close to existing infrastructure including rail, roads,
water, power and ports.
Access to important domestic markets in a country that is a net
importer of its phosphate needs gives Aguia a competitive advantage to
phosphate producers currently exporting to Brazil.
In recent news on Aguia Resources reported high-grade surface
results including 25.7pc And 28.4pc P2O5 from the Mata da Corda phosphate
project.
Aguia Resources has also advised that the appeal made by Norwest
Holding Pte Ltd in relation to its claim against Aguia for not completing
the acquisition of a phosphate project located in the Sichuan Province of
China has been lost.

Reuters.