Junior phosphate and potash miner GrowMax Resources Corp., Calgary, has announced that two long-time industry veterans have agreed to stand for election to its board of directors at its June 28 shareholders’ meeting. They are John Van Brunt, former Agrium Inc. CEO, who has some 40 years of experience in the production and distribution of agricultural products, and Steven Paxton, former senior executive with The Mosaic Co. and predecessor companies, with over 35 years of global fertilizer sales and marketing management experience.
“We are very pleased to have Mr. Van Brunt and Mr. Paxton agreeing to join our board,” said Abby Badwi, GrowMax executive chairman. “Their vast collective experience in the fertilizer business will be most valuable for the company and its forward growth plans.”
GrowMax also reported that another director, Rakesh Kapur, joint managing director, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO), was elected to be chairman of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) in May.
The company noted that Ken Geren has elected not to stand for re-election as director.
GrowMax also announced that it has cash and equivalents on hand of approximately $46.4 million as of March 31, 2017. “The company’s strong working capital balance, combined with the progress we continue to make on our core Peruvian fertilizer assets, has helped us attract strong new board members, which we believe further strengthens our positioning and ability to execute our strategy of becoming a leading producer of potash and phosphate fertilizer products in Peru,” added Stephen Keith, GrowMax president.
GrowMax reported that during May it received a two-year extension and modification to its Bayovar property transfer agreement. The company has agreed to complete a revised economic study by March 2018; commence production by May 2019; pay US$500,000 over two years to a Peruvian state-owned company, half of which will be distributed by that company to the local community; produce a minimum of 70 percent of the annual sales volume set forth in the applicable economic study; and invest a minimum of $19.8 million in the project from May 2016-May 2019, of which the company estimates that it has fulfilled $3.9 million up to May 2017.
The company recently announced that it is studying a pilot potassium sulfate plant for the project (GM Feb. 10, p. 14).
GrowMax, a Canadian company, is pursuing phosphate and potash resources on its Bayovar property in the Sechura Desert in northwestern Peru. GrowMax owns 92 percent of GrowMax Agri Corp., a private company that owns 100 percent of the Bayovar property, which covers approximately 227,000 gross acres. IFFCO and affiliates own 8 percent.