TIDMHMI
RNS Number : 5457L
Harvest Minerals Limited
20 April 2018
Harvest Minerals Limited / Index: LSE / Epic: HMI / Sector:
Mining
20(th) April 2018
Harvest Minerals Limited ('Harvest' or the 'Company')
Corporate and Operational Update
Harvest Minerals Limited, the AIM listed natural fertiliser
producer, is pleased to provide an update on activities at its
producing Arapua Fertiliser Project ('the Project') in Brazil. A
version of this announcement, including pictures, is available on
the company website www.harvestminerals.co.uk.
Overview
-- Excellent progress enlarging modular processing plant -
equipment due to arrive on site next week and will be fully
installed this quarter
-- Continued expansion of sales and marketing team and new sales office established
-- Working closely with Agrocerrado on sales strategy and
providing its sales team with commercial and technical training on
KPfértil
-- Submitted a further application to MAPA to register the
Arapua Processing Unit as a fertiliser producer, which will
potentially save time should the Company wish to register KPfértil
as a fertiliser
-- Commenced work on the Environmental Report, a constituent of
the Feasibility Study that will be submitted to the Brazilian
Department of Mines ("DNPM") as the final part of the application
for the Full Mining Licence
-- Agronomic test work ongoing, including long-term trials on
coffee at the Veloso Agropecuária plantations, new trials on grass
for pasture and coffee trials with two coffee co-operatives
-- Presenting at the UK Investor Show on Saturday 21 April 2018
Harvest's Executive Chairman, Brian McMaster, said, "We have
continued to gain momentum through the first quarter and now into
the second. The expansion to both our sales team and processing
plant provides us with the capacity to continue to grow our sales
and revenues, which remains a key focus for 2018. Although the
confirmation of KPfértil as a remineraliser hasn't been as
efficient as we would have liked, it has not impacted our ability
to sell our product. I'd again like to thank all our shareholders
for their continued support and we look forward to meeting many of
you at the UK Investor Show tomorrow."
Sales & Marketing
Since the start of the year, Harvest has continued to expand its
sales and marketing team and has established a sales office close
to the Project in Carmo do Paranaíba, the local municipality.
As previously announced on 7 March 2018, the Company signed a
large sales contract with Agrocerrado Produtos Agrícolas e
Assistência Técnica LTDA ('Agrocerrado'), a major distributor of
fertiliser and agriproducts in the region surrounding Harvest's
Arapua project. Since then, the Company has been working closely
with Agrocerrado on its sales strategy and providing its sales team
with commercial and technical training on KPfértil; this was
completed at the last of its 13 stores this week.
Furthermore, in association with Agrocerrado, Harvest has
produced new marketing material, some of which is available to view
on the Company's website at
http://www.harvestminerals.net/media.
Operations
The Company has made excellent progress enlarging its modular
processing plant, which will take annual processing capacity to
over 320,000 tonnes. All necessary equipment and machinery for the
new plant expansion has been fabricated and all the required civil
works have now been completed. The equipment is due to arrive on
site next week and will be fully installed this quarter. Meanwhile,
the current Trial Processing Plant continues to operate.
MAPA and Registration
All the requested information has been submitted to MAPA for the
registration of KPfértil as a remineraliser and the Company is
awaiting confirmation of approval. Additionally, the Company has
submitted a further application to MAPA to register the Arapua
Processing Unit as a fertiliser producer. Whilst this won't provide
any immediate benefit, it will potentially save time should the
Company wish to register KPfértil as a fertiliser.
As part of this process, the Company has re-registered, with the
DNPM, the ownership of the Project under Triunfo Mineracao do
Brasil Ltda, following the previously announced merger of its
subsidiary, Triunfo Fertilizantes & Mineracao Ltda into Triunfo
Mineracao do Brasil Ltda, in September 2017.
Mining Licence
As recently announced, the Final Exploration Report has been
approved by the DNPM and the Company has now commenced work on the
Environmental Report, a constituent of the Feasibility Study that
will be submitted to the DNPM as the final part of the application
for the Full Mining Licence. Meanwhile, the Company continues to
operate under the existing Environmental License for trial mining
granted in December 2015 for four years.
Following the grant of the Full Mining Licence, the Company
intends to consider the Project to have reached commercial
production and will make a payment of US$1m and a 2% net smelter
return (royalty) to the original vendors of the Project. In the
Company's AIM admission document, this payment was stated as being
due to RV2 Rio Verde Mineracao Ltda, but as this company ceased
trading in mid-September 2015, this payment when due shall be made
directly to the original vendors, Fernando Pereira da Rocha Thomsen
and Janine Tavares Camargo.
Agronomic testwork
The Company continues to conduct its programme of agronomic test
work which includes:
-- Long-term trials on coffee at the Veloso Agropecuária plantations
-- New trials including on grass for pasture - notably, pasture
is not usually fertilised as traditional fertilisers that are prone
to leaching make ineffective economically, however, KPfértil as a
slow release multi-nutrient fertiliser does not experience leaching
and thus should be a suitable alternative; as 50% of farmland is
used for pasture, this could be a significant market for
KPfértil
-- Coffee trials with two coffee co-operatives: the Association
of coffee growers from Patos de Minas ('ASOPATOS') and the
Association of coffee growers from Araguari ('ACA'), which
represent 25,000ha and 30,000ha of coffee respectively
UK Investor Show
Harvest will be presenting at the UK Investor Show on Saturday
21 April 2018 and welcomes the opportunity to meet shareholders who
are available to attend. The presentation which will be given at
this event is available on the Company's website:
http://www.harvestminerals.net/investor-presentations.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014
*ENDS*
For further information please visit www.harvestminerals.net or
contact:
Harvest Minerals Limited Brian McMaster Tel: +44 (0) 20
(Chairman) 7317 6629
Strand Hanson Limited James Spinney Tel: +44 (0) 20
(Nominated & Financial Ritchie Balmer 7409 3494
Adviser)
Shard Capital Partners Damon Heath Tel: +44 (0) 20
(Broker) 7186 9900
St Brides Partners Isabel de Salis Tel: +44 (0) 20
Ltd 7236 1177
(Financial PR) Gaby Jenner
Notes:
Harvest Minerals (HMI.L) is a Brazilian focused fertiliser
producer advancing the 100% owned Arapua Fertiliser Project, which
produces KPfértil, a proven, multi-nutrient, slow release, organic
fertiliser and remineraliser. KPfértil offers many economic and
agronomic benefits and addresses the significant demand for locally
produced fertiliser in Brazil, with its abundant agricultural land;
currently, the country imports 90% of the potash it uses but has a
target to be self-sufficient in fertilisers by 2020. Covering
14,946 hectares and located in the heart of the Brazilian
agriculture belt in Minas Gerais, Arapua is a shallow, low cost
mine with an indicated and inferred resource of 13.07Mt at 3.1%
K(2) O and 2.49% P(2) O(5) . This is based on drilling just 6.7% of
the known mineralisation, leaving significant upside potential.
This resource is equivalent to over 29 years' production and the
known mineralisation expected to support 100+ years' production at
450,000 tonnes per annum.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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