Media Coverage: Secure, low cadmium and ethical phosphate resource option

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Secure, low cadmium and ethical phosphate resource option

Tuesday, 9 May 2017, 11:46 am
Press Release: Chatham Rock Phosphate

NEWS RELEASE 17-10 May 8, 2017

Chatham offers secure, low cadmium and ethical phosphate resource option to NZ farmers

WELLINGTON New Zealand – Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited (TSXV: “NZP” and NZAX: “CRP” or the “Company") wishes to reconfirm that it offers a secure, low cadmium and ethical phosphate resource option to NZ farmers.

New Zealand needs to use its own source of ethically-produced, environmentally-friendly phosphate rock rather than importing product from a disputed territory, Chatham Rock Phosphate Chief Executive Chris Castle said today.

He was commenting on the interception and detention, by the Western Sahara liberation movement, of a shipment of phosphate rock on route for New Zealand

“This is the sort of supply disruption which we have been signalling for years.

“As both New Zealand fertiliser manufacturers source a large part of their phosphate rock from that area, the implications for farmers and the agriculture sector (the backbone of our economy) are serious.

“It underlines the strategic value of our deposit.

“Most of the rock phosphate imported into New Zealand comes from mines in the Western Sahara which has been under armed occupation by Morocco since 1975. The trade has continued despite this – and the 1991 commitment of the United Nations (and subsequent sanctions) to ensure Western Sahara benefits from self-determination.”

Mr Castle said the Chatham Rise resource is not only an ethical source but it also has among the lowest known levels of cadmium.

“To put it in a nut shell, Chatham offers a secure, ultra-low cadmium supply of rock phosphate – with no associated ethical baggage.

Mr Castle said the current issue is also a good time to consider more environmentally sustainable alternatives to current fertiliser products.

“The rock coming (or not coming) from Morocco is used to make superphosphate, the predominant fertiliser used in New Zealand to apply phosphorus to soils.

“It’s well established this results in high levels of run off with resulting detrimental effects to our waterways. Research indicates it can also be detrimental to soil health over the long term.

“The solution to both problems is the use of Chatham rock phosphate as a direct application fertiliser.

“We can deliver a secure and sustainable local supply of low-cadmium phosphate that will also reduce fertiliser run-off into waterways, produce healthier soils and shrink fertiliser needs over time,” Mr Castle said.

The resource, with an estimated worth of $5 to $7 billion, represents one of New Zealand’s most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand’s high agricultural productivity.

Chatham proposes to extract up to 1.5 million tonnes a year of phosphate nodules from the top half metre of sand on identified parts of an 820km2 area on the Chatham Rise, 450km off the west coast of New Zealand, in waters of 400m.

“Our environmental consenting process has established extraction would have no material impact on fishing yields or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds.”

Mr Castle said Chatham is also seeking other sustainable rock phosphate sources, to move from being a single project company and take more control of our destiny.

Recent approval of a Namibian environmental consent for a marine phosphate mining resource also opens the door for Chatham to advance its own Namibian permit applications. Chatham applied in 2012 for prospecting permits over five distinct areas well offshore Namibia, some not far from the area held by the successful applicant. These 2012 applications were lodged with the confidence that based on research undertaken to date, this area of the seabed likely contains substantial quantities of rock phosphate.

Chatham offers secure, low cadmium and ethical phosphate resource option to NZ farmers

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NEWS RELEASE 17-10                                                                                                  

WELLINGTON New Zealand – Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited (TSXV: “NZP” and NZAX: “CRP” or the “Company") wishes to reconfirm that it offers a secure, low cadmium and ethical phosphate resource option to NZ farmers.

New Zealand needs to use its own source of ethically-produced, environmentally-friendly phosphate rock rather than importing product from a disputed territory, Chatham Rock Phosphate Chief Executive Chris Castle said today.
He was commenting on the interception and detention, by the Western Sahara liberation movement, of a shipment of phosphate rock on route for New Zealand
“This is the sort of supply disruption which we have been signalling for years. 
“As both New Zealand fertiliser manufacturers source a large part of their phosphate rock from that area, the implications for farmers and the agriculture sector (the backbone of our economy) are serious.
“It underlines the strategic value of our deposit.
“Most of the rock phosphate imported into New Zealand comes from mines in the Western Sahara which has been under armed occupation by Morocco since 1975. The trade has continued despite this – and the 1991 commitment of the United Nations (and subsequent sanctions) to ensure Western Sahara benefits from self-determination.”
Mr Castle said the Chatham Rise resource is not only an ethical source but it also has among the lowest known levels of cadmium.  
“To put it in a nut shell, Chatham offers a secure, ultra-low cadmium supply of rock phosphate – with no associated ethical baggage.
Mr Castle said the current issue is also a good time to consider more environmentally sustainable alternatives to current fertiliser products.
“The rock coming (or not coming) from Morocco is used to make superphosphate, the predominant fertiliser used in New Zealand to apply phosphorus to soils. 
“It’s well established this results in high levels of run off with resulting detrimental effects to our waterways.  Research indicates it can also be detrimental to soil health over the long term.
“The solution to both problems is the use of Chatham rock phosphate as a direct application fertiliser.
“We can deliver a secure and sustainable local supply of low-cadmium phosphate that will also reduce fertiliser run-off into waterways, produce healthier soils and shrink fertiliser needs over time,” Mr Castle said. 
The resource, with an estimated worth of $5 to $7 billion, represents one of New Zealand’s most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand’s high agricultural productivity. 
Chatham proposes to extract up to 1.5 million tonnes a year of phosphate nodules from the top half metre of sand on identified parts of an 820km2 area on the Chatham Rise, 450km off the west coast of New Zealand, in waters of 400m. 
“Our environmental consenting process has established extraction would have no material impact on fishing yields or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds.”
Mr Castle said Chatham is also seeking other sustainable rock phosphate sources, to move from being a single project company and take more control of our destiny.
Recent approval of a Namibian environmental consent for a marine phosphate mining resource also opens the door for Chatham to advance its own Namibian permit applications. Chatham applied in 2012 for prospecting permits over five distinct areas well offshore Namibia, some not far from the area held by the successful applicant. These 2012 applications were lodged with the confidence that based on research undertaken to date, this area of the seabed likely contains substantial quantities of rock phosphate. 

Chris Castle – +64 21 55 81 85 or chris@widespread.co.nz

About Chatham Rock Phosphate 

Chatham Rock Phosphate, a publicly listed company, was granted a mining permit in 2013 to develop New Zealand’s only significant source of environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate fertiliser and is now preparing for a revised environmental consent application.

Local and international investors have contributed more than $37 million to develop the project’s financial viability, environmental benefits and impacts, technical and logistical requirements, local and international product uses.
In progressing plans to submit a new application we are working with government officials to seek improvement in the permitting process and iwi, academic, industry and central government input to ensure New Zealand can benefit from an environmentally superior phosphate source. 
Chatham is listed on NZAX, the Toronto Stock Exchange and in Frankfurt. These multiple listings provide a more useful share-trading platform for overseas shareholders and facilitate the capital raising needed for the consenting process and beyond.
Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or New Zealand Exchange Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or New Zealand Exchange Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.
 

New graphic shows why Chatham Rise phosphate is good for NZ

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2 May 2017 

New graphic shows why Chatham Rise phosphate is good for NZ 

Chatham Rock Phosphate today launched an interactive graphic on its website to clearly and simply show the many reasons why its Chatham Rise sourced phosphate will be good for New Zealand.

“We spend a lot of time explaining to people why our product offers so many benefits,” chief executive Chris Castle said today.

“We’ve worked with a graphic artist to translate a basic concept originally developed as a PowerPoint slide into something that is creative and tells the story in an appealing way.

“The graphic on our website allows you to see it all at a glance on one page or you can drill down to get more information simply by clicking on different parts of the illustration.  We’ll also be using the illustration in our investor and stakeholder presentations.

The key themes shown are: 
•    benefits for the environment
•    ethical, secure supply
•    taxes, jobs and knowledge and
•    return on investment.

“Environmental opponents often don’t appreciate that while our project will have an environmental footprint, the flip side is it will offer major benefits for the New Zealand environment because it will reduce run-off into rivers and lakes, offers improved soil health, contains very low levels of cadmium, and has a low carbon footprint.”  

In addition the product will provide an ethical source of a highly strategic resource and reduce New Zealand’s dependence on imported phosphate.  New Zealand currently imports a large amount of high-cadmium phosphate from politically disputed territories in the Middle East.

The project also presents a range of financial and economic benefits – including $33 million a year in taxes and royalties, skilled jobs, building leadership in marine technology and the opportunity to identify conservation priorities.

Rounding out the benefits is building a significant New Zealand company with annual revenues of $250 million – something achieved by only a tiny percentage of companies through developing the $6 billion phosphate resource. 

The link to the graphic and further embedded information can be found here:  
http://www.rockphosphate.co.nz/projectinfographic/

For further information please contact
Chris Castle
+64 21 55 81 85 or chris@crpl.co.nz
 

CRP features on CEO Clips airing on the Documentary Channel

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1 May 2017

Chatham Rock Phosphate features on CEO Clips airing on the Documentary Channel

CEO Clips, a series which profiles the most innovative publicly traded companies in North America, will feature Chatham Rock Phosphate on The Documentary Channel beginning May 15-28, 2017, Monday – Friday between the hours of 6am – 12am.  

Our CEO Clip has been posted on Thomson Reuters Insider Network at http://reut.rs/2oBczTo, where it can be viewed by over 80,000 financial professionals.

In addition it will be posted on these financial portals: BNN.ca Finance, Thomson Reuters Insider Network, Stockhouse, YouTube, as well as on BTV/CEO Clips.

It can also be viewed online via this link: 

http://www.b-tv.com/chatham-rock-phosphate-ceo-clip/ and on the home page of our website at www.rockphosphate.co.nz

 

For additional information contact:

Chris Castle
Chief Executive Officer
Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited
Email: chris@crpl.co.nz
Cell: +64 21 558 185
Skype: phosphateking
www.rockphosphate.co.nz 

 

About The Documentary Channel:

“Documentary is a digital television station devoted to showing the best documentaries from Canada and around the world. With its special emphasis on feature length films, watching Documentary is like having a cinema in your own living room, showing award winning films twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”

 

About Chatham Rock Phosphate 

Chatham Rock Phosphate, listed on the TSX.V (ticker NZP), the NZAX (code CRP) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (code 3GRE), was granted a mining permit in 2013 to develop New Zealand’s only significant source of environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate fertiliser and is now preparing for a revised environmental consent application.

Our role as custodian of this resource is focused on delivering a secure and sustainable local supply of low-cadmium phosphate that will reduce fertiliser run-off into waterways, produce healthier soils and shrink fertiliser needs over time. 

The resource has an estimated worth of $5 to $7 billion, representing one of New Zealand’s most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand’s high agricultural productivity. Local and international investors have contributed more than $40 million to develop the project’s financial viability, environmental benefits and impacts, technical and logistical requirements, local and international product uses.

We propose to extract up to 1.5 million tonnes of phosphate nodules from the top half metre of sand on identified parts of an 820km2 area on the Chatham Rise, 450km off the east coast of New Zealand, in waters of 400m. Our environmental consenting process has established extraction would have no material impact on fishing yields or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds.
In progressing plans to submit a new application we are working with government officials to seek improvement in the permitting process and iwi, academic, industry and central government input to ensure New Zealand can benefit from an environmentally superior phosphate source. 
We are also seeking to own other sustainable rock phosphate sources, to move from being a single project company and take more control of our destiny.
 

CRPL lists on Frankfurt bourse

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Download PDF Press Release

CHATHAM ROCK PHOSPHATE LIMITED LISTS ON FRANKFURT BOURSE

 WELLINGTON New Zealand – Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited (TSXV: “NZP” and NZAX: “CRP” or the “Company") wishes to announce that it has listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, to make it easier for its burgeoning international investor base to trade their shares.

The latest move follows the completion of Chatham’s listing on the TSX Venture Exchange in March after a friendly reverse takeover of Antipodes Gold.  Chatham has been listed on the New Zealand Alternative Exchange (NZAX) since 2006, when it was originally named Widespread Energy.

Investors domiciled in Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and North America have supported recent capital raisings by Chatham.

About 60 per cent of shares are held by New Zealanders. 

“We continue to enjoy strong investor interest in Europe, North America and Asia, so we are facilitating the trading in our shares,” Managing Director Chris Castle said today.

Chatham’s ticker code in Frankfurt is 3GRE.

The link to the company’s page on the Frankfurt exchange is: http://en.boerse-frankfurt.de/stock/Chatham_Rock_Phosphate_1-share. This link is also located on the home page of our website next to the links for the TSX.V and NZAX market price.  

For further information please contact

Chris Castle
64 21 55 81 85
chris@crpl.co.nz
www.rockphosphate.co.nz

Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or New Zealand Exchange Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Completion of Merger

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16 March 2017

AUCKLAND New Zealand – Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited (formerly “Antipodes Gold Limited”) (TSXV: “NZP” and NZAX: “CRP” or the “Company") is pleased to announce, further to its news release of February 24, 2017, that it has completed the acquisition of the remaining 7% of the issued shares of Chatham Rock Phosphate (NZ) Limited (“CRPNZ”).

These acquisitions were completed by way of a combination of processing additional acceptances of the takeover offer received by the Company and by way of compulsory acquisition procedures under the provisions of the (New Zealand) Takeovers Code.  As a result, the Company now owns 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of CRPNZ and its NZAX trading symbol has been changed from AXG to CRP.

In total, the Company issued 12,272,776 common shares to the former shareholders of CRPNZ in consideration for the acquisition of a 100% interest CRPNZ. Following completion of the 10:1 share consolidation, the takeover of CRPNZ and the debt settlements described in the Company’s news release of February 24, 2017, the Company now has a total of 13,627,813 issued and outstanding common shares and Mandatory Warrants exercisable into an additional 379,214 common shares.

Antipodes Gold was renamed Chatham Rock Phosphate on February 24, 2017 and now owns the “old” Chatham Rock Phosphate 100%.  It is business as usual for the combined company.

The “new” Chatham Rock Phosphate is stock exchange listed in both New Zealand and Canada, with its primary listing being on the TSXV in Canada where its trading symbol is NZP.  Since the reconstructed company started trading in Canada sales have been at 68 and 70 cents.  In NZ currency terms the most recent sale price of 70 in Canada is equivalent to 75 cents.

In New Zealand, the last sale price on the NZAX, pre-merger, was $0.09 implying a post-merger share price of 65.59 times that, or 59 cents.  Subsequently there have been small sales here in NZ at 50, 48 and 43 cents.  To summarise, our shares are trading at 43 cents in one market and 75 in the other.

This anomalous situation is not desirable but also not unusual in dual listed stocks as investors in one market are not necessarily aware of the market price in the other.  

In order to better inform our shareholders, the home page of Chatham’s website (www.rockphosphate.co.nz) now has links to our market prices on both markets.  Just click the links on the right hand side of the home page.

Please call me or e-mail me if this is not clear and I will be pleased to help.

Regards,
Chris Castle
Chief Executive Officer
Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited
Email: chris@crpl.co.nz
Cell: +64 21 558 185
Skype: phosphateking
www.rockphosphate.co.nz

Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or New Zealand Exchange Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press release.

CRP Update March 2017

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Update

March 2017

A new era for Chatham Rock Phosphate

I write this as I meet with existing and prospective shareholders on a visit to investors in Europe. 

Then I’m off to the PDAC (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada) convention, held in Toronto starting Sunday 5 March. (Our booth number if you are passing is #2752.)   Our attendance each March is a great opportunity to talk to investors and others with an interest in our project.  The timing is perfect given we have just completed the friendly takeover of Antipodes Gold to enable our listing on the Toronto venture exchange.

 

Welcome to Antipodes Shareholders

This letter is partly to provide Antipodes shareholders with some background regarding the company they have now inherited.  I am very pleased to welcome about 1000 Antipodes shareholders to add to a similar number of CRP shareholders, many of whom have shared our vision for more than a decade.

We are a company with significant forward momentum to become a key player in the world market for low-cadmium reactive rock phosphate, basing this initially on our unique phosphate deposit on the Chatham Rise. But more about that later.

To all Antipodes shareholders: This update is one of a series we regularly send out to our shareholders, usually by email in the interests of efficiency and saving costs. This is being posted to you with a request for you to provide your email address so I can communicate directly with you in that manner.

Please send an email to me at chris@crpl.co.nz with subscribe in the title and I will add you to our email list. Our newsletters come from me, as I believe in communicating directly with our shareholders, and I encourage and welcome feedback. You will not start receiving automated responses from our website.    With this note I also attach a fact sheet.

This fact sheet and our latest investor presentation can be found on our website, www.rockphosphate.co.nz which I encourage you to visit.  It will provide you with a great overview of who we are.  The direct links to these documents are

http://www.rockphosphate.co.nz/s/CRP-Fact-Sheet-23-Feb-2017.pdf 
http://www.rockphosphate.co.nz/s/CRP-Feb-26-2017-Presentation.pdf

 

CRP vision based on numbers and beliefs

CRP is a highly unusual mining company in that our mining project has a very strong list of environmental benefits to add to an impressive array of ethical, financial and economic pluses.  The following market analysis adds to our many other compelling reasons to invest.

Contract sale prices of 30% P205 (phosphate) ex Morocco are presently $US120, significantly higher than the $US99 figure usually quoted by the World Bank. Once freight to Asia of $US30 is added, the landed cost is $US150. 

If sold to make superphosphate in New Zealand, the value of CRP rock is presently around $US110.  However if sold as reactive phosphate rock (RPR) – an organic product – the retail value in New Zealand is $US255. If sold internationally as RPR the estimated price is about $US150 ($US40 over the value of the rock based on phosphate content. This is because RPR is as effective on pasture land as TSP (triple superphosphate) which costs up to $US160 more that SSP (single superphosphate).

Based on these market behaviours and the range of the other information we continue to gather, we are convinced the demand for RPR will continue to grow in parallel with the demand for organic products.

But wait there’s more!   Chatham rock phosphate is ultra-low in heavy metal cadmium (< 10 mg/Kg P2O5).  This will be of huge additional value once the European Union sets a 60mg/Kg P2O5 cadmium limit in 2019.  We understand this will eliminate all rock sourced from Egypt, Israel, Boucraa (Morocco), Youssoufia, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Nauru & Christmas Island.  

Analysts consider this will result in initial price premiums of $US30 - $50 for low-cadmium sources of rock phosphate.  When the European Union cadmium limit is further lowered to 20 mg/Kg P2O5 in 2030, it will eliminate other sources and increase the premium further. The following shows the compelling financial reasons why our product is so good.

In a nutshell

Based on this logic, we believe selling high quality RPR with ultra-low cadmium will become a very profitable business and a major contributor to the New Zealand economy as well as being ethically and environmentally on the side of the angels.

The following graphic is a summary of our key benefits.  You will see low cadmium is mentioned as just one benefit.  The premium being paid for RPR (which we think can only increase) is one of the contributors to our very strong forecast profitability

You can be our advocates whenever our project is raised in conversation.  To remind you why we continue to believe the Chatham Rise project remains hugely important, here are the key reasons: 

 

To recap on progress so far in 2017:

Operations: The CRP team has undertaken a major stock take of where the Chatham Rise project is currently sitting and to plan next steps. An independent environmental specialist provided a gap analysis of the project in order to optimise our resubmission strategy.  A  resulting two-day planning session identified a large number of actions. While the stock take showed we’re in pretty good shape, there’s still a huge amount to do for a second application. Once we’ve firmed up a couple of key issues, we’ll provide an update on timeframes and the scope of the work required.

Watching TTR: We’ve been attending key parts of the Trans Tasman Resources hearing in Wellington to help inform our strategy.  TTR is reapplying for a marine consent to mine iron sands off the Taranaki coast. Its hearing started on 16 February and is currently scheduled to finish on 20 March, with a decision due after a further 20 working days.  The Environmental Protection Authority, which is running the application process, is regularly updating its website regarding the application.  Check out: http://www.epa.govt.nz/EEZ/whats-going-on/current-applications/ttr-2016/Pages/default.aspx

Dutch Government research grant: CRP and its Dutch technical partners Boskalis and Deltares have received Dutch government research funding to improve the environmental management of marine mining.  The increased global interest in marine mining has highlighted the need to develop tools ways to predict, adaptively manage and reduce the environmental effects of marine mining. The research will investigate the behaviour of re-deposited material using state of the art laboratory analyses and computer modelling to assess the plume dispersion and the continuous process of settling, deposition and bed formation of sand and silt. The results will reduce uncertainties regarding predicting re-suspension and dispersion of the material being returned to the seabed.  The Dutch Ministry for Economic Affairs stimulates public-private partnerships between research organisations and companies by awarding funds to reviewed high quality research proposals.  The results are being developed using the vast amount of data already available for the Chatham Rise marine mining project, but will have direct relevance to all projects in the offshore mining and dredging industry.

 

Looking ahead

Over the coming months I look forward to meeting some of our new shareholders.  Our annual meeting is an opportunity to get together and we normally hold that meeting in Wellington in late July.  We will provide you with some pre-warning so you might be able to combine a trip there with meeting other shareholders.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email or call me.

Regards

Chris Castle, Managing Director
chris@crpl.co.nz or +64 21 55 81 85
skype: phosphateking