Phosphorite Deposits Near Patos de Minas, - Minas Gerais, Brazil (387deef7-efdb-4f8c-964c-ec3f542a32b2)

Marine phosphorite deposits occur in Braxil, in the Bambui Group of late Precambrian or Early Cambrian age. The phosphorite is laminated, isoclinally folded, and is composed of black, elongated apatite pellets and quartz grains cemented by quartz and muscovite. Abundant, narrow quartz veinlets cut through the .rock at right angles to the elongation direction of the pellets. The phosphorite is 0 to 80 m thick and contains 5 to 30 percent P2O5. The deposit is elongate towards the northeast, and the central, thickest, and richest part is bounded by faults. Measured reserves are about 250 million tons that average a bout 13 % P205. Preliminary testing indicates that grinding, scrubbing, and desliming will produce a material usable for fertilizer manufacture at a cost competitive with imported phosphate fertilizers.