Phosphate rock mining company Avenira Ltd., Subiaco, Western Australia, reports that it has received some A$800,000 in a tranche one (40 million shares at $0.02 per share) stock placement, and anticipates another $2 million from tranche two (99,999,999 shares at $0.02 per share) pending shareholder approval at a Sept. 20 meeting. In all, the two tranches will account for 139,999,999 shares.
Major shareholders Agrifos Partners LLC, Tablo Corp., and Agrifields MCC have committed $2 million to the capital raising process.
The money is expected to be used for both for general corporate purposes and to complete a feasibility study at Avenira’s flagship project, the 80 percent Baobab Phosphate Project in Senegal, West Africa. The study is expected to be completed in fourth-quarter 2018, and will consider a major expansion and upgrade of the beneficiation plant at Baobab’s Gadde Bissik mine and subsequently implementing next-step investments toward longer-term downstream integration.
Avenira said given the positive upward movement in the phosphate rock market, it is also planning to review its other major phosphate asset, the 100-percent owned Wonarah Phosphate Project in Australia’s Northern Territory. It said Wonarah has one of the largest known phosphate projects in Australia.
Avenira also owns a 7 percent stake in JDCPhosphates, Fort Meade, Fla., a private company that is developing the Improved Hard Process (IHP), which would produce high-grade phosphoric acid using low-quality phosphate rock tailings (GM Aug. 10, p. 31). The process does not produce phosphogypsum and co-produces a commercially useful aggregate – J-Rox for construction and road building. Avenira has exclusive license rights to use IHP in Australia and Senegal.