Arianne Phosphate,a development-stage phosphate mining company advancing the Lac à Paul project in Quebec’s Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, on Oct. 24 announced that its joint research project with the CEGEP of Riviere-de-Loup’s Environmental and Biotechnology Group (GREB) has received a grant of C$727,500 over three years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the major Canadian federal agency for funding natural sciences and engineering research.
The company said the grant has been provided after a successful first round of work aimed at producing a new breed of fertilizers through a process, developed by GREB, of combining Arianne’s high-purity phosphate concentrate with organic waste. The work being done by GREB would alter the traditional process of making fertilizer, removing the requirement of acid, and allow for the use of organic wastes that otherwise often wind up in landfills.
“We are all very excited by the early success of this work,” said Raphael Gaudreault, Arianne COO. “The potential of this work could be transformative, allowing the industry to move away from acid-based fertilizers towards a more circular and environmentally friendly way of production.”
Arianne said its deposit can produce a very high-purity, low-contaminant phosphate concentrate that allows it to be used in innovative and technically advanced products, differentiating the company from most of the other phosphate projects currently in place.
“Whether for use in innovative fertilizers, or for its proven ability to work as a key ingredient in the growing LFP battery industry, Arianne can be an industry leader in the ‘greening’ of the world’s economy,” said Arianne President Brian Ostroff.