Junior miner Potash Ridge Corp., Toronto, said on April 27 that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with GSFC Agro Tech Ltd. (GATL), a unit of India’s Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC), for the supply of 50,000 mt/y of sulfate of potash (SOP) from the company’s Blawn Mountain SOP Project in Utah. Potash Ridge CEO Andrew Squires called the MOU a significant accomplishment and a key stepping stone in the financing and development of the project.
Squires added that the company has been in negotiations with other Southeast Asian state-owned enterprises since third-quarter 2017, and it anticipates closing additional offtake MOUs in the very near future, with the intent of achieving offtake commitments for a majority portion of the initial 255,000 mt/y SOP capacity.
Potash Ridge described GSFC as India’s second largest fertilizer company by revenue. GSFC fiscal 2016-17 after-tax profits were $64 million on revenues of $843 million. The company produced some 1.5 million mt of fertilizer. It is also an industrial chemicals producer, including caprolactam. Potash Ridge noted that in order to support its DAP, urea, ammonium sulfate, and NPK production, GSFC is a major importer of ammonia, potash, and sulfur.
GSFC’s future plans include the use of SOP for the production of water soluble and specialty fertilizers. Gujarat Green Revolution Co. Ltd., an associate company of GSFC, is engaged in the promotion and use of modern farming techniques, such as micro irrigation to conserve water, and also provides agronomy services to farmers in the use of this technology to sustain agricultural production in Gujarat.
Potash Ridge noted that GSFC also has offshore investments in the Tunisian Indian Fertilizer Co., a phosphoric acid producer, and in Karnalyte Resources, a junior potash producer in Saskatchewan. In addition, GSFC is studying the possibility of constructing an ammonia/urea complex in the Republic of the Congo (Congo Brazzaville). As earlier reported, the Karnalyte project is currently on hold, awaiting improved potash prices (GM April 6, p. 28).
In other news, Potash Ridge said in light of recent pressure put on aluminum due to U.S. sanctions, prices for aluminum and metallurgical-grade alumina have surged, with the latter topping the $600/mt mark. The company said the Blawn Mountain Project can potentially produce some 420,000 mt/y of unprocessed alumina co-production from the alunite going into the tailings. It said the site’s alunite deposit represents the largest known potential nonbauxite source of alumina in the U.S. The company said this asset provides tremendous upside potential and diversity to its revenue stream.
In addition to Blawn Mountain, Potash Ridge also owns the Valleyfield Fertilizer Corp., which intends to build a fertilizer manufacturing facility in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec, to produce 40,000 mt/y of SOP. However, the company is seeking to concentrate on Blawn Mountain, and has been in negotiations to sell the Valleyfield asset to Canada Coal Inc., Vancouver (GM Feb. 23, p. 28; Nov. 22, 2017). However, the nonbinding letter of intent (LOI) on that potential deal was set to expire on April 30, 2018. There was no word from Potash Ridge last week as to whether the LOI had been extended.