Verde AgriTech Plc. Belo Horizonte, Brazil, said on Aug. 1 that it has commissioned and started up its new Super Greensand® processing plant in São Gotardo, Minas Gerais. The production capacity of the plant is 45/mt per hour. Verde said it is operated by a ten-person crew on an 8-hour shift that can be expanded as demand picks up. However, the current design allows it to operate in dry conditions only, during the dry season from April to October. The company said the period of production coincides with the period of heightened demand for Verde’s production.
While the cost of the production facility was initially budgeted at US$500,000, the company said total investment reached $600,000 because the company advanced part of the ground work necessary for an expansion to reach the 600,000 mt/y capacity projected for Phase 1 in the pre-feasibility study.
“We are proud to see the culmination of years of research and work in the form of Verde’s own processing plant,” said Cristiano Veloso, Verde president and CEO. “We are successfully working on the market growth for Super Greensand® in Brazil and abroad. As with any new product, there is plenty of marketing and information work to be done, two tasks to which we are devoting an increasing amount of effort. As we expand our markets, we will expand our production facility so that Verde can hit its full production potential in the near future.”
Verde said its product should it benefit from the recent rise in freight rates as its plant is located in the agricultural heartland, therefore, making it even more competitive than imported product.