Perth-Australian-based Aguia Resources Ltd. said Jan. 25 that it has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire a potentially large potash project in northeast Brazil. It says the project complements Aguia’s Brazilian phosphate projects, allowing the company to capitalize on the increasing demand for fertilizers in the country. The property, which would be acquired from Potassio do Atlantico Ltda., a private mineral exploration company, is adjacent to Brazil’s only operating potash mine, Vale S.A.’s Taquari-Vassouras underground mine. Aguia said the project is supported by data from 300 petroleum boreholes that reported potash occurrences. The initial land position is 179,000 hectares in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin, close to existing infrastructure, including power, gas, road, and port facilities. Aguia says it has already formed a technical team to commence exploration.

Las Vegas-Marifil Mines Ltd. reports that an ongoing exploration program for potash in the Neuquen Basin in Argentina resulted in the identification and acquisition of a second large area highly favorable for potash in the northern portion of the basin in Mendoza Province. Marifil says it has acquired the area by staking four claims totalling 30,000 hectares (300 square kilometers) that it believes are highly prospective for potash. The claims the K-4 Project may also be prospective for uranium, biogenic sulfur, Mississippi Valley-type lead and zinc, and asphaltites. Research also identified an additional area adjacent to the K-3 property. The company staked 10,000 hectares to cover this prospective zone. The southern part of the company’s K-3 project lies about 50 kilometers northwest of Vale’s giant Potasio Rio Colorado potash mine, which has a resource of 2 billion tons of potassium chloride. The K-4 project is located about ten kilometers north of the K-3 project. Marifil says its K-1 property has been sold to Allana Resources; K-2, an 80,000-hectare project, is subject to a letter of intent with Saccharum Energy Corp.; and K-3 is subject to a right of first offer to Saccharum. The K-4 project is not subject to the right of first offer clause given to Saccharum Energy. The company intends to farm out or joint venture this property.

Toronto-MBAC Fertilizer Corp. said Jan. 19 that it has received positive drilling results from ongoing phosphate exploration work at the Santana project in the southern Para State, Brazil. The results from the first drill hole produced an average grade of 17 percent P2O5 for the first 27 meters, which is consistent with the company’s expectations. “The prospect of a potentially large-scale phosphate project with high grade material is extremely exciting,” said Antenor Silva, MBAC president and CEO. “This project is strategically positioned in close proximity to extensive farm land in the northern Mato Grosso State of Brazil, one of the largest grain producers in Brazil and one of the fastest growing agricultural frontiers in the world.” MBAC say the licensed area, covering 90,000 hectares, has had exploration consisting of rock chip sampling with encouraging results, including numerous occurrences with readings in excess of 30 percent P²O⁵.

Vancouver-Great Quest Metals reports that it has been issued two government mining permits in respect to its Tin Hina and Tarkint Est phosphate concessions in eastern Mali. The permits, which cover 737 sq kilometers and are known as the Convention d’Etablissement, are a step forward for the company in its quest to begin a multi-phase drilling and exploration program on target areas within both concessions. The properties form part of the company’s Tilemsi phosphate project, for which the first stage of exploration is an extensive drilling program of shallow holes required to establish an initial NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate in the area. “We are very pleased to receive these permits, which move us closer to drilling and exploring for phosphate, and this further demonstrates the commitment of the Ministry of Mines to the mining industry and the importance of a domestic source of phosphates for the Malian agricultural sector,” said Mamadou Keita, Great Quest director and vice president of exploration. Great Quest acquired the Tin Hina concession through a direct application to the government of Mali. It is held by a Malian company owned 88 percent by Great Quest. With Tarkint Est, Great Quest has the rights to earn a 97 percent interest, subject to a 3 percent carried net profit interest.

Bismarck-There has been no potash produced yet in North Dakota, but with interest being shown for such development the legislature is being urged to make changes in the state tax structure. A bill in the house finance and taxation committee would impose a 4 percent tax on the gross value of all subsurface mineral produced during the processing of potash produced within the state. Eighty percent of the tax would be used to reduce individual income tax rates, and 20 percent would go to potash and byproduct-producing counties. A potash processing plant would not be required to pay property tax, which drew some objections from at least one legislator. State Geologist Ed Murphy said he hasn’t been involved with the tax proposal, but remarked that “I know the company exploring for potash was given an opportunity to comment on it during an interim taxation committee hearing. My impression is that they did not oppose it. I know also the committee is looking at taxing structures in other states as well.” The North Dakota County Officials Association hasn’t taken a position, but its spokesman, Jeff Eslinger, told Green Markets that the concern is potash could follow the pattern of oil extraction. “Now that we’re having a bit of an oil boom, trucks are beating up the roads and the taxes we get from oil extraction have not been adequate,” Eslinger pointed out. “We just don’t want to see a similar situation with other minerals such as potash.” On Jan. 24, the company that is exploring for potash in the state, UK-based Sirius Minerals Plc, said its first hole has confirmed the continuity of the Saskatchewan potash beds into North Dakota and to its Dakota Salt project. “Sirius is now working with its technical team to properly analyze and interpret these results to plan the next phase of our ongoing exploration activities in North Dakota,” said Chris Fraser, Sirius managing director.

Vancouver-Sterling Group Ventures Inc. said Jan. 24 that it has arranged a private placement of up to 15,000,000 units at a price of $.10 per unit. The total proceeds from the private placement will be up to $1.5 million. The proceeds will be used to fulfill the immediate requirements of the 2010 agreement with Chenxi County Hongyu Mining Co. and relating to the development of the Gaoping phosphate mine located in Chenxi County, Hunan Province, together with other phosphate resources located in Hunan, and for working capital. Sterling signed agreements last year to acquire Hongyu, which holds permits allowing initial production up to 100,000 mt of phosphate ore per year. The property has an estimated 58.16 million mt of phosphate resources with a grade of 19.8 percent P2O5 based on a geological report by Hunan Chemical Geological Exploration Institute. Under the terms of the agreement, Sterling agreed to put the property into production and finance the building of a phosphate processing plant.

Boston-Converted Organics Inc. said Jan. 25 that the company has purchased additional fertilizer manufacturing equipment for its Gonzales, Calif., facility to increase production capacity. The new equipment will enable Converted Organics of California LLC to take advantage of additional production capacity for its existing organic fertilizer products, as well as to introduce a specialty fertilizer product line for its customers. After adding the production capacity, the production capacity will increase by over 25 percent. “Our organic fertilizer business has seen consistent record growth over the past year and increasing production capacity will allow the company to continue to have record sales levels in 2011,” said Edward Gildea, Converted Organics president and CEO. “Providing organic specialty fertilizer products is our direct response to certain customer desires, and we will continue to strive to best meet our customers’ demands.” Gildea declined to give approximate capacity totals.

Othello, Wash.-Local school district officials now know that students and anhydrous ammonia don’t mix. The Othello School District is looking for a new elementary school site after being warned by emergency management and other agencies that the location they originally chose would be in the danger zone if an ammonia release occurred from any one of three nearby industrial plants that have some 200,000 pounds as part of their daily operations. “While I support the idea of building an additional elementary school, I cannot support the proposed location as it puts our community’s children in harms way,” Adams County Emergency Management Coordinator Jay Weis advised school officials. Gary Lebacken, chief of one of the Adams fire districts, also cautioned, “That school would have been next to our biggest industrial area. It had the potential for 500 elementary school children that couldn’t have provided self-evacuation.” Dwight Remick, the school district’s director of finance and operations, agreed, “There are a lot more chemicals being used close to the site than people realized.” Actually, Remick noted, that’s the purpose of the state environmental review process, which in this case provided information from several local agencies during the comment period about the amount of chemicals used by various businesses and processing plants in the immediate vicinity of the site under consideration. “It clearly demonstrated to me the reason for going through the SEPA process, as the quantities of various chemicals used and the possible exposure issues involved are much greater than a layperson would ever anticipate,” he added. Now the district now is looking for another property so it can get its plans submitted in time to qualify for matching state money.

Phoenix-An influential member of the state senate is calling for the development of a large potash deposit in the Holbrook Basin of east-central Arizona that she believes could provide a major economic boost to the area. “I’m coming from an economic point of view because I don’t know that much about potash itself,” commented State Sen. Sylvia Allen of Snowflake, who is part of the senate leadership as president pro tem. She expects that a mine of sizeable proportions would provide a lot of jobs and give a strong boost to the state. “We’re not developing our natural resources when we need to get back to producing and developing and creating jobs.” According to a new study by the Arizona Geological Survey, the deposit underlies 600 square miles east of Holbrook. The top of the potash is situated from 700 to 2,000 feet below the surface; most of the deposit is found at about 1,200-1,300 feet deep. Maximum thickness of the potash is about 40 feet, and total volume estimates range from 5.68 to 6.45 cubic kilometers. Reports of the average grade of potash range from 6-20 percent. Calculating tonnage for the entire deposit, assuming 6-20 percent grades, yields 682 million mt to 2.27 billion mt, respectively. Approximately 20 percent of the deposit, however, is closed to mining since it underlies the Petrified Forest National Park, and another 30 percent underlies lands included in the Petrified Forest Expansion Act of 2004. The remaining 50 percent is a combination of private, state trust, and Native American Tribal lands.

Reno-Itronics Inc. reports that since November 2010 its wholly owned subsidiary, Itronics Metallurgical Inc., has been shipping Gold’n Gro liquid fertilizer between area snowstorms that have made transportation difficult. Fertilizer orders received in the fourth quarter of 2010, including one right after Jan. 1, 2011, were up 5 percent compared to the 2009 fourth quarter. Fall season orders were later than in 2009 due to the late harvest in California and early onset of fall rain and snow. Because of this the company ended the year with a backlog of orders, which are being delivered in January. “The main fertilizer being shipped is Gold’n Gro 9-0-1 + 7 percent Zn,” said Dr. John Whitney, Itronics president. “The Gold’n Gro chelated micronutrient fertilizers, which include Gold’n Gro 9-0-1 +7 percent Zn, have an unusually low freeze point, from about 5 degrees Fahrenheit down to less than -20 degrees Fahrenheit.” Itronics says its advanced technology makes it possible to ship the liquid micronutrient fertilizers in the winter without incurring freeze damage, and is an important benefit for its northern Nevada manufacturing location. “The company’s outlook for Gold’n Gro fertilizer sales in 2011 is positive,” Dr. Whitney said. “Water conditions in California are very good, and farmers are enjoying higher crop prices. This is setting the stage for strong sales increases in the 2011 spring season.”