Rio de Janeiro, Sep 2 (EFE).- The government of the western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso has announced the discovery of a huge deposit with as much as 11 billion tons of iron ore with an Fe grade of 41 percent, as well as an estimated 428 million tons of phosphate rock.
The deposit holds three times the volume of the Carajas iron ore mine, also located in Brazil and one of the largest in the world, although the ore grade of the latter is higher, Gov. Silval Barbosa told a press conference.
The mineral deposit occupies a 43-square-kilometer (16-square-mile) area in Mirassol D'Oeste, a town near the border with Bolivia and an area of Brazil far from the coast and the ports used to export minerals.
Barbosa said authorities will seek out companies that may be interested in developing the deposit, although the government will carry out the feasibility studies for the project.
Between January and July, the value of Brazil's exports of iron and its concentrates totaled $12.35 billion, or 11.56 percent of the country's total exports, according to the most recent official statistics.
The mining giant Vale, which the Brazilian government privatized in 1997, is the world's largest iron ore producer and exporter.
The main destination for Brazilian mineral exports is China, which bought iron ore valued at $5.05 billion in the first seven months of the year.
