Australian Crusader Resources to invest $400 million in Brazil gold mine

Australian company Crusader Resources Ltd. (ASX:CAS) will invest $400 million in a gold mining project located in the Currais Novos region in Brazil’s north-eastern state of Rio Grande do Norte, reports local newspaper Valor Económico.

According to the daily, Crusader Resources’ global executive president Robert Smakman, said the Borborema project will be one of the biggest gold mines in the country, as it is expected to produce 5 tonnes of gold a year for 10 years.

The company decided to look at Brazil in 2006 when it couldn’t find anything in Australia that had the potential to be a “company-maker”.  Crusader acquired Borborema for $2.4 million in 2010 and, since then, it has invested $15 million in the project, located 140km from the coast on a sealed highway.

The Currais Novos region is a well-known gold rich district. In the 20s, several artisanal miners explored for gold with successful results, but it wasn’t until recent years that it started attracting the interest of big companies, mainly foreign, says the newspaper.