When contacted, P R Dhariwal, chief executive officer (CEO) for the project said that the group would go ahead for a full scale mining license based on the results of the exploration. The survey would take 6-8 months and as part of the concession, Essar would be able to conduct exploratory mining for iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore or any other available mineral.

The area, that Essar has earmarked for exploration, measures 7,851.69 hectares and is one of the larger deposits. The mining concession was granted by DNPM (Departmento Nacional de Producao Mineral), government of Brazil, in response to Essar’s application. The area is 150 km from the Santana Public Port in Macapa, on the banks of the Amazon river and very close to Essar’s proposed steel plant in Trinidad and Tobago.