All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

Pursell Agri-Tech LLC – Management Brief

Management Briefs, South Central, Specialty

Pursell Agri-Tech LLC, Sylacauga, Ala., has expanded its team with the addition of Eric Ellison as Director of Agronomy. The company said he is an experienced broad acre and specialty crop agronomist and researcher and his work includes both academia and industry. For the past 15 years, he has worked as an industry agronomist, primarily in North American agricultural markets for companies including Nutrien Ltd. and Koch Agronomic Services, with an emphasis on improving fertilizer use efficiency, plant nutrition and plant health.

“We’re delighted to have Eric Ellison join the Pursell Agri-Tech team,” said Nick Adamchak, Pursell CEO. “He is passionate about understanding the exact performance of the fertilizer in real-world applications and thus enabling our customers to obtain optimum outcomes, sharing his experience with controlled-release fertilizer as a way to do that consistently and sustainably.”

Ellison’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in soil science and doctorate in chemistry.

CVR Partners LP – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Texas

CVR Partners LP, Sugar Land, Texas, together with CVR Energy Inc., on Oct. 12 announced that Dane Neumann has been named Executive Vice President and CFO of the general partner of the partnership and the company. The appointments were effective Oct. 6, 2021. In this position, Neumann will lead all aspects of the finance and accounting functions for the partnership, the company, and their subsidiaries.

Neumann most recently served as Interim CFO of the general partner of the partnership and the company from August 2021 and Vice President of Finance & Treasurer since June 2020. Prior to that, he held various other roles within the company’s and the partnership’s finance organizations since June 2018.

Previously, he served in roles of increasing responsibility for Andeavor and its affiliates from March 2011 until June 2018, including as Director of Commercial Business Planning & Analytics from June 2017 until June 2018, Director of Financial Planning & Analysis for Western Refining from 2017 until its acquisition by Andeavor (then Tesoro Corp.) in June 2017, and Corporate Finance Manager for the general partner of Northern Tier Energy LP from 2012 until its acquisition by WNR in June 2016.

He earned an MBA and a B.S. in Finance and Political Science from the University of Minnesota. He also is a Certified Public Accountant.

ICL Group – Management Brief

Israel, Management Briefs, Specialty

ICL Group CFO Kobi Altman will retire from the company as of Jan. 1, 2022, due to family and personal matters, ICL, Tel Aviv, said on Oct. 11. Aviram Lahav has been appointed successor to the position and a member of ICL’s executive team, and will join the company at that time.

Lahav brings over 20 years of diverse experience from his former roles as both CEO and CFO at various global companies. In his most recent role, he served as CFO of Adama Group, a global agrichemical company and part of the Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta Group, and also as CEO of Airport City, Israel-based Adama Agricultural Solutions.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. – Management Brief

Eastern Cornbelt, Management Briefs

CF Industries Holdings Inc., Deerfield, Ill., announced on Oct. 13 that current Board Chair Stephen A. Furbacher will retire at the Annual Meeting of Stockholders in May 2022. Stephen J. Hagge, currently an Independent Director, has been elected as incoming Chair, effective Jan. 1, 2022

Furbacher informed the Board of his plans to retire under the general company policy that no director having attained the age of 74 years shall be nominated for re-election or reappointment. He has been an Independent Director since 2007 and served as Chair since 2014.

Hagge is the former President and CEO of Aptar Group Inc. He has been an Independent Director since 2010, most recently serving as Chair of the Compensation and Management Development Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee.

John W. Eaves, Executive Chairman of Arch Resources Inc. and current CF Independent Director, is the new incoming Chair of the Compensation and Management Development Committee. He has been a CF Independent Director since 2017.

Following Furbacher’s retirement, the Board is expected to have 11 members, consisting of ten independent directors and Tony Will, CF President and CEO. The company said that at that time, over half of the members of the Board will have joined since 2017 and the composition will be 55 percent diverse (gender or racial/ethnic background).

Compass Minerals – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Southern Plains, Specialty

Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan., on Oct. 12 announced the appointment of Gareth Joyce to the Board of Directors.

“With Gareth’s appointment, we are pleased to add key expertise to the Board in support of the company’s recently announced lithium development strategy,” said Joe Reece, Non-Executive Chairman of the Board. “Gareth’s leadership in the electric vehicle battery sector, coupled with his hands-on knowledge of driving sustainable operations, will be an excellent addition to our board acumen as we maintain focus on maximizing value of our advantaged assets to benefit all stakeholders.”

Joyce is currently the President of Proterra Inc., a commercial electric vehicle technology company. He was promoted to his current position in September 2021 after previously serving as president of Proterra’s Powered and Energy business units since November 2020. From 2016- 2020, he served in a number of leadership roles at Delta Air Lines Inc., most recently as Chief Sustainability Officer. Prior to Delta, from 2004-2016 he held roles of increasing responsibility at Daimler AG, including as President and CEO, Mercedes-Benz Canada, and Vice President, Customer Service, Mercedes-Benz USA. Joyce has also served in a number of consulting and management positions in finance and other fields.

Joyce earned a B.S. in engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand and a Master of Commerce in business management at the University of Johannesburg, both in South Africa.

Joyce has been appointed to the Environmental, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Committee and Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee of the Board. With Joyce’s appointment, the Board has expanded from eight members to nine.

Nachurs Alpine Launches Advanced Adjuvants

Eastern Cornbelt, News, News Briefs, Specialty

Nachurs Alpine Solutions® (NAS), Marion, Ohio, on Oct. 11 announced that it has launched a new product line in their agriculture portfolio – Advanced Adjuvants. Matt Cimino, Adjuvants Manager, will lead the introduction of the new brand into the marketplace. The company said adjuvants are increasingly becoming products of necessity for growers to increase their performance and safe application of today’s crop protection products.

NAS said building on the foundational strengths developed over 75 years in the agricultural marketplace with branded fertility products, Advanced Adjuvants brings that same dedication to quality, integrity, and innovation that customers have grown to expect from a trusted supplier. It said Advanced Adjuvants enters the marketplace with both unique proprietary adjuvants and proven industry standard adjuvant formulations to ensure maximum performance and value from both crop protection and fertility products.

NAS said its partnerships with industry-leading formulators and chemists ensure a consistent stream of products to meet the ever-changing environmental, stewardship, and sustainability goals of today’s customer.

The company’s NPK liquid fertilizers are marketed under the Nachurs brand in the U.S. and under the Alpine in Canada. The company became a division of Wilbur-Ellis in 2019.

South Harz Potash Inks Drilling Contract

Australia, Germany, News, News Briefs, Potash

Junior miner South Harz Potash (SHP), formerly Davenport Resources Ltd., West Perth, Western Australia, said on Oct. 10 that it has signed the drilling contract for the first confirmatory hole at its Ohmgebirge Mining License area in Germany with deep drilling specialist company H. Anger’s Söhne Bohr- und Brunnenbaugesellschaft, conditional on permit approval.

The aim of the drilling is to collect potash core samples from depth to assist in verifying historical drilling in the license area by the former East German state in the 1980’s. The confirmation drillholes will allow the company to upgrade its current inferred resources to indicated within the mining license area (GM May 28, p. 34), thus allowing the release of a Technical and Economic Assessment in first-quarter 2022.

SHP plans to drill two holes. The first drillhole, OHM-02, is planned in fourth-quarter 2021 and is expected to fully penetrate the known potash horizon in the area. The application to drill a second hole is currently being processed.

KBR Technology Selected for ACME Project

Ammonia, Green Ammonia, Houston, TX, Middle East, News, News Briefs

KBR, Houston, announced on Oct. 11 that its ammonia technology has been selected by ACME Group for its green ammonia project to be built in Oman (GM March 26, p. 1; Aug. 27, p. 31). KBR will provide technology license, engineering, proprietary equipment, catalyst, and commissioning services for a plant to produce 300 mt/d of ammonia. The plant will be an integrated facility using solar and wind energy to produce green ammonia.

“We are honored to be selected by ACME Group for this ambitious project,” said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology. “Energy transition driven by green ammonia is a reality, and KBR will play a pivotal role in helping innovative companies like ACME establish early-mover advantages through our industry leading technology.”

“This facility, aimed towards exporting green ammonia to Europe and Asia, will be the first project of this scale,” said Manoj K. Upadhyay, Founder & Chairman, ACME Group. “We selected KBR technology because of its high yields and lowest energy consumption and look forward to a successful project implementation.”

Gensource Announces Private Placement

News, News Briefs, Potash, Saskatchewan

Junior miner Gensource Potash Corp., Saskatoon, on Oct. 8 announced its intention to undertake a non-brokered private placement offering of up to $2 million principal amount of 5 percent convertible redeemable unsecured debentures of the company.

The net proceeds are intended to be used to satisfy regulatory capital requirements for its previously announced intention to apply to list its common shares on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange plc.

The principal amount of each debenture shall be convertible, for no additional consideration, into common shares of the company at the option of the holder. The company said it has been advised by a number of its insiders, including all of its directors, that they intend to subscribe for debentures pursuant to the offering and their participation is considered a “related party transaction.”

Pursell Wins Award, Thanks IFDC; Wins Another with Huntsman

News, News Briefs, South Central, Specialty

Pursell Agri-Tech LLC, Sylacauga, Ala., and the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), Muscle Shoals, Ala., recently celebrated recognition by the joint EPA-USDA partnership during a donation check presentation ceremony in Muscle Shoals.

Pursell, recipient of the Next Gen Fertilizer Challenge Moonshot Award, donated the $17,500 monetary prize to IFDC as a thank you for its support, collaboration, and leadership in introducing solutions that improve global agriculture and ultimately contribute to IFDC’s mission of achieving zero hunger through efficient food systems and technology.

“Very few people in the fertilizer industry know that approximately 70 percent of all fertilizer technologies in the world were developed in Muscle Shoals, Ala., by IFDC and its predecessor, the National Fertilizer Development Center (NFDC),” said Pursell Agri-Tech Chairman Taylor Pursell. “We are humbled to receive the Next Gen Fertilizer Innovation Challenge award of the Joint EPA-USDA Partnership and want to acknowledge, with this donation, our great appreciation for all that IFDC has done for the fertilizer industry and the world’s farmers.”

The Pursell technology selected for the award addresses the global need for Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE) and improved soil health. The coating technology allows controlled-release fertilizer manufacturing plants to fortify urea with a core designed to be formulated specifically to a region based on the soil, crop, nutrient needs, soil health, and human health needs.

Pursell and Huntsman Corp., The Woodlands Texas, recently won the 2021 Polyurethane Innovation Award from The Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) of the American Chemistry Council (ACC). The award-winning technology, which is the result of a long-term collaboration between Huntsman’s Polyurethanes business and Pursell Agri-Tech, is PurActive™ – a polyurethane-based, controlled-release fertilizer coating made using Huntsman’s RIMLINE® polyurethane system.