All posts by hlancey@bloomberg.net

Approval Delayed for Khemisset Project

Morocco, News Briefs, Potash

Isle of Man-based Emmerson plc reported that the environmental approval for its Khemisset potash and salt project in northern Morocco continues to be delayed. Emmerson is targeting production of 810,000 mt/y of potash at peak production and 1 million mt/y of salt at Khemisset.

Emmerson said it is still waiting for Morocco’s Ministerial Committee to meet to discuss the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (EISA) for the project, but has yet to receive a meeting date, according to a fourth-quarter activities update released by the company on Jan. 8.

Khemisset’s environmental approval was referred to the national Ministerial Committee in July last year after the local regional committee was unable to approve the application due to concerns about the project’s impact on water resources (GM July 14, 2023). Emmerson said it has been repeatedly assured that the EISA meeting will take place “as soon as possible” and that no further significant issues remain.

The appointment of a syndicate of leading international and Moroccan banks as initial mandated lead arrangers to coordinate and fund dual-tranche debt financing facilities for the development of the project in December was extended for a further 12 months until Dec. 31, 2024. The debt facility under discussion amounts to $310 million.

“While we have been continuing with our lobbying activities, we have limited our technical activities appropriately in order to preserve the company’s cash for as long as possible, although some important work has been undertaken to examine opportunities for further optimizing and enhancing the project economically and, more importantly, environmentally,” said Emmerson CEO Graham Clarke.

“Once we have the EISA approval, we will be in a position to move forward quickly with fundraising and technical work,” he said.

India’s SPIC Unveils $228.6 M Investment Plan

Green Ammonia, India, News Briefs, Urea

India’s Southern Petrochemical Industries Corp. (SPIC) has committed to investing Rs1,900 (approximately $228.6 million at current exchange rates) over the next two years under its strategic group expansion plans, India’s Economic Times reported, citing the company. SPIC made the pledge at a two-day investors meeting, which concluded on Jan. 8.

Under the investment plan, the company has earmarked Rs970 crore to revamp the existing urea plant at Thoothukudi, formerly known as Tuticorin, in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, augment capacity, and establish a 150 mt/d green ammonia plant. The urea plant has an existing production capacity of 620,000 mt/y.

Greenstar Fertilizers Ltd., an SPIC Group company, has allocated Rs640 crore for establishing a water soluble fertilizer blending plant in Chennai and building a 2,500 mt/y sulfuric acid plant, as well as for the refurbishment of its DAP I and DAP II plants in Thoothukudi.

These latest investment plans follow the inauguration of Greenstar’s first water soluble fertilizer blending plant at Thoothukudi in November 2023. SPIC associate company Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd. (TFL) will also set up a soda ash and ammonium chloride plant in Thoothukudi at an investment of Rs290 crore.

TFL uses imported ammonia received through Thoothukudi port and SPIC/Greenstar facilities, locally produced salt, and CO2 gas from SPIC’s ammonia plant. The TFL unit co-produces ammonium chloride fertilizer and also has a technical grade ammonium chloride plant, a sodium bicarbonate plant, and an ammonium bicarbonate plant.

In 2023, TFL became the first company in India to produce green soda ash and green ammonium chloride, according to the report.

GSFC Commissions Amsul Plant in India

Ammonium Sulfate, India, News Briefs

Indian state-owned Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC) has commissioned a new plant for the production of ammonium sulfate at Fertilizer Nagar, Vadodara, in Gujarat state.

The Ammonium Sulfate IV plant, the company’s fourth, has 132,000 mt/y of capacity and started commercial production on Jan. 8, according to a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing by the company.

GSFC’s shares rose as much as 11.72% on Jan. 8 following the new plant’s commercial start-up, the highest since the company’s listing on the BSE on Sept. 26, 1996, according to Indian media reports.

Mosaic Biosciences™ Launches TruResponse

News Briefs

Mosaic Biosciences™ on Jan. 9 announced TruResponseWorks.com, an interactive website showcasing a biologicals performance database compiled through various trials.

“TruResponse and its coordinating website were created from the desire to give farmers tools and information they need to determine what products could be impactful for them,” said Matt Sowder, Director of Global Agronomy, Mosaic Biosciences. “We know there are questions about agricultural biologicals in general, and not all biologicals perform consistently every time. Farmers can use the data on TruRepsonseWorks.com to see how our biologicals perform in geographies near them, where soil types, weather conditions, farming practices and other factors may be similar.”

Farmers can choose to see trial data on the website based on crop, fertilizer application methods, irrigation, and tillage practices – or any combination of those factors – and see the results on a map. Users can then choose a map location to see more details about the trial and how Mosaic Biosciences performed in that area and with those specific conditions.

FuelPositive Joins CHFCA, Updates on Placement

Canada, Green Ammonia, News Briefs

Green technology developer FuelPositive Corp., Waterloo, Ont., on Jan. 8 announced that it has joined the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (CHFCA) as a start-up member. The CHFCA currently has more than 170 members across Canada and regional branches in British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario.

“Teaming up with Canadian technology companies and supporting the Canadian economy as we build our green ammonia solutions aligns with our mission as a company,” said CEO and Chair Ian Clifford.

In other news, FuelPositive has set the deadline for completing its ongoing non-brokered private placement for Jan. 31, 2024. The offering consists of up to 90,909,090 units at a price of C$0.055 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share of the company and one common share purchase warrant allowing holders to purchase an additional common share at a price of $0.07 for a period of sixty months.

On Dec. 15, 2023, the company completed an initial tranche of the offering and issued 24,545,454 units for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,350,000.

Russia Sets Zero Tax for YNAO Gas Production

Ammonia, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, News Briefs, Russia

The Russian government has implemented a law establishing a zero rate for the mineral extraction tax (MET) for producing gas and/or gas condensate in subsoil areas that are located on the Yamal and/or Gydansky Peninsulas, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region (YNAO) in Russia’s Western Siberia, when the gas and/or gas condensate is used exclusively to produce ammonia and/or hydrogen, according to an Interfax report.

The YNAO is the most significant gas producing region in Russia, accounting for approximately 80% of the country’s natural gas production.

Moscow has also established a preferential corporate profit tax for ammonia and hydrogen producers. According to the report, the Russian constituent entities may establish reduced rates for profit tax, subject to crediting the budgets of the respective constituent entities, for taxpayers producing ammonia and/or hydrogen at new production facilities in relation to profits received from these activities. To be eligible, the new production facilities must be launched after Jan 1, 2025.

Russia’s largest independent natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, Moscow-based PAO Novatek, had been working on its first blue ammonia and hydrogen project on West Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula. The company reportedly decided in late 2022 to change the focus of the project back to LNG, however, as per its original project plan. However, this could not be confirmed by Green Markets by press time.

The company announced the Obsky GCC project in 2021, which called for gas to be extracted from two deposits and converted into 2.2 million mt/y of ammonia and 130,000 mt/y of hydrogen (GM Oct. 22, 2021). A pre-front end engineering design study for the project has been completed, with the first stage of the project originally planned for launch in 2026, and the second stage in 2027.

This past September, Novatek was reported to be nearing a final investment decision on the Obsky LNG project, which is the company’s second LNG project.

Reward Launches Capital Raise for Beyondie

Australia, News Briefs, Potash, Sulfate of Potash

Junior Australian potash producer Reward Minerals Ltd. has announced a 2-to-1 renounceable entitlement offer seeking to raise A$22.785 million (approximately $15.3 million at current exchange rates) before costs to fund the acquisition of the Beyondie Sulfate of Potash (SOP) project in Western Australia.

The announcement on Jan. 10 followed the previous day’s approval by Reward’s shareholders of the acquisition from Beyondie’s administrators. The potash junior signed a binding share sale agreement with McGrathNicol, the receivers and managers of Beyondie’s former developer, Kalium Lakes Ltd., in early December for a total consideration of A$20 million (GM Dec. 8, 2023).

Perth-based Reward said it hopes to raise the A$22.785 million via a pro-rata renounceable entitlement offer of shares to eligible shareholders on the basis of two new shares for every one share held on Jan 15, 2024, at an issue price of A$0.05 per new share, together with one free-attaching quoted option (exercisable at A$0.10 and expiring three years from the issue date) for every two new shares successfully subscribed for the entitlement offer.

The offer closes at 5:00 pm (AWST) on Jan. 25 and is renounceable, which means there will be trading of rights on the ASX and shareholders may dispose of their entitlement to subscribe for new shares and new options under the entitlement offer to another party other than on the ASX.

“The capital raising will allow completion of the Beyondie transaction and for Reward to proceed to commencement of R&D activities at the site as soon as practical with a view to development of a robust operational strategy in the near term,” said Reward CEO Lorry Hughes in the company’s Jan. 10 ASX release.

The entitlement offer is partially underwritten for A$16 million by RM Corporate Finance Pty Ltd. and remains conditional on Reward raising the full subscription amount of A$22,785,314.

SOP junior Kalium Lakes went into receivership last August after it failed to find further financial support for the continued development of the Beyondie SOP project, located some 160 kilometers southeast of Newman in Western Australia (GM Aug. 18, 2023).

Kalium was Australia’s first SOP producer, producing its first batch at Beyondie in October 2021 (GM Oct. 8, 2021). Despite 2022’s high SOP prices, however, the company remained cash-flow negative.

Reward has two other potash projects in Western Australia, including its flagship Kumpupintil Lake Potash development (formerly known as Lake Disappointment Potash Project) east of Newman, and the Carnarvon Potash Project north of Carnarvon, some 900 kilometers north of Perth.

Australia Shortlists Hydrogen Projects

Ammonia, Australia, Hydrogen, News Briefs

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced that six applicants have been shortlisted and invited to submit a full application in the next stage of the A$2 billion Hydrogen Headstart Program.

Those seeking to produce renewable hydrogen or derivatives such as ammonia at scale can apply for a production credit delivered over 10 years to bridge the commercial gap between the cost of producing renewable hydrogen and the market price. Shortlisted firms have until June 27, 2024, to submit their full applications with the government expected to announce recipients in late 2024.

The six applicants include bp Low Carbon Australia Pty., for its H2Kwinana Project in Western Australia, with an end use of ammonia, sustainable aviation fuel, and mineral processing; HIF Asia Pacific Pty Ltd. and its project HIF Tasmania eFuel Facility in Tasmania producing e-Fuels; KEPCO Australia Pty Ltd. and Port of New Castle Green Hydrogen Project in New South Wales for producing ammonia; Origin Energy Future Fuels Pty Ltd. and Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub in New South Wales for ammonia and mobility; Stanwell Corp. Ltd. for its Central Queensland Hydrogen Project in Queensland to produce ammonia; and Murchison Hydrogen Renewables Pty Ltd. for the Murchison Hydrogen Renewables Project in Western Australia to produce ammonia.

“We have the largest pipeline of renewable hydrogen projects in the world. Hydrogen Headstart is about supporting these projects to become reality as Australia transforms into a renewable energy superpower,” said Chris Bowen, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy.

ARENA said it has already committed more than A$315 million to 48 renewable hydrogen projects since 2017. This funding is in addition to over A$500 milion in Australian Government funding administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water for regional hydrogen hubs.

KBR Selected for INPEX/LSB, Malaysian Projects

Blue Ammonia, Green Ammonia, News Briefs, U.S.

Houston-based KBR announced on Jan. 10 that its blue ammonia technology has been selected by Tokyo-based INPEX Corp. and Oklahoma City-based LSB Industries Inc. for the 1.1 million mt/y ammonia production and export project in the US Gulf Coast (GM Oct. 6, 2023).

KBR will provide technology licensing and proprietary engineering design, which will capture carbon while maximizing yields.

KBR also announced on Jan. 8 that its K-GreeN® technology has been selected by a consortium consisting of Lotte Chemical, KNOC (Korea National Oil Corp.), and Samsung Engineering for Lotte’s H2biscus green ammonia project development in Sarawak, Malaysia. KBR will provide technology license and proprietary engineering design to Lotte for its green ammonia project that will produce 800,000 mt/y green ammonia from hydropower.

Thyssenkrupp, Ma’aden Plan Phosphogypsum Plant

Germany, News Briefs, Phosphate, Saudi Arabia

German engineering company Thyssenkrupp Uhde said it has signed a master agreement with Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma’aden) for the development, engineering, and licensing of a calcination plant for phosphogypsum processing.

The proposed plant will be located at the Saudi company’s Ras al Khair phosphate production site with the purpose of recycling phosphogypsum and to enable the capture of CO2 emissions.

The joint research and development will be carried out with Thyssenkrupp Polysius and Finland’s Metso Outotec, Thyssenkrupp said in a Jan. 10 statement. In its own statement, Ma’aden said the proposed complex will utilize its new technology, which has been officially recognized by the US Patent and Trademark Office.