Horizonte Minerals has taken over the Glencore Araguaia nickel project (GAP) in north central Brazil.

The company has completed a licence transfer under the agreement to acquire GAP from Xstrata Brasil Exploraçâo Mineral, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore, announced on 28 September 2015.

The closing of the transaction will conclude the consolidation of GAP and Horizonte’s Araguaia project, as well as the Serra do Tapa nickel deposit.

"The purchase of the GAP project and consolidation with our existing Araguaia project creates one of the highest grade saprolite nickel projects globally."

Horizonte Minerals CEO Jeremy Martin said: “The purchase of the GAP project and consolidation with our existing Araguaia project creates one of the highest grade saprolite nickel projects globally.

“We are in the final stages of completing a new pre-feasibility study (PFS) on the combined project with the aim of demonstrating that Araguaia will sit on the lower end of the global cost curve and the upper end of the grade curve with low capital intensity.”

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Horizonte said it has now completed the second and final allotment of initial consideration shares to Xstrata, following the transfer of the outstanding GAP licences from Xstrata to the company’s subsidiary.

The GAP and Araguaia projects are located in the Neo-Proterozoic Araguaia Fold Belt, a 1,000km long and 150km wide orogenic zone between the Amazon Craton to the west and the San Francisco Craton to the east.

In both projects, nickel laterite deposits are developed on peridotites that form part of mafic-ultramafic complexes.

The current GAP concessions contain three significant nickel laterite deposits, including Serra do Tapa and Pau Preto, and Vale dos Sonhos.