Receives Operating Rights to Dry Ridge Phosphate Project
Perth, Feb 19, 2014 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Fertoz Limited (
ASX:FTZ) ("Fertoz" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the US Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has approved the transfer of operating rights for the Company's Dry Ridge Phosphate Project from Solvay USA Inc. to Fertoz USA LLC. This change is as per the Agreement announcement to the ASX December 10, 2013.
Fertoz USA LLC is an Idaho registered US company, 100% owned by Fertoz Limited.
Fertoz has begun preparing a permit to allow extensive exploration of the Dry Ridge Project in 2015 and 2016. The Company has engaged consultant World Industrial Minerals to provide additional geological services to develop the exploration programme in line with BLM requirements.
Cascade Earth Sciences (CES) has also been engaged to commence environmental permitting, a requirement by the BLM. CES has teamed with Sound Ecological Endeavours (biologist) and Sundance Consulting (archaeologist) to expedite the process. The approval process is expected to take 12 to 15 months with drilling planned for the second half of 2015. Exploration in the USA requires significant third party input and reports prior to drilling being approved.
Managing Director Les Szonyi said: "Now that we have been appointed as operator, we can accelerate the approval process and hope to begin drilling later next year. While we progress with exploration approvals in Idaho, we will continue to focus on bulk samples from Wapiti East and exploration of the Fernie group (Marten, Barnes Lake, Crows Nest) in Canada."
The Dry Ridge Phosphate Project is located in the established phosphate mining region of South Eastern Idaho, U.S.A.
The Dry Ridge Project, phosphate lease I-07238 ("Lease"), is a Federal mineral lease located in the established phosphate mining region of South Eastern Idaho. South Eastern Idaho boasts the richest phosphate deposits in the Western United States, and is second only to Florida in phosphate production.
This region is within an area designated by the United States Geosciences Survey as a "Known Phosphate Leasing Area", or KPLA, which contains four operating phosphate mines and a number of smaller advanced exploration/development projects, some of which are directly along strike and hosted by the same sedimentary horizon which bears phosphate at the Dry Ridge Phosphate Project.
The Dry Ridge Phosphate Project is located in an established mining region in the Americas and has the potential to be developed and brought into production with relatively low capital investment. It is close to existing infrastructure, three operating phosphate mines and three phosphate processing plants, two of which are within 35km of the Project.
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About Fertoz Ltd
Fertoz (ASX:FTZ) is an Australian-based phosphate exploration and development company with a range of projects in British Columbia, Canada as well as Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Company is focused on becoming a fertiliser producer as quickly as possible, initially focusing on the Canadian/USA markets.
Fertoz plans to develop its exploration assets in Canada in order to identify any potential Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) projects. It intends to seek joint venture partners to assist in funding the exploration projects in Australia.
Phosphate is a commodity necessary for feeding the world, and Fertoz is ready to capitalise on this growing demand.
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