Starts Phosphate Exploration at Fernie Project
Perth, Oct 16, 2014 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Fertoz Limited (
ASX:FTZ) ("Fertoz" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has commenced a three-week phosphate rock trenching and drill programme with bulk sample collection from the Marten tenements at its Fernie Phosphate Project in British Columbia, Canada.
Fertoz has also extended the phosphate prospective area from 1,215 hectares to 1,739 hectares, or 43%, by acquiring two new tenements at very low cost (Figure 2).
Managing Director Les Szonyi said: "The Fernie project is our second phosphate project in British Columbia and is particularly attractive because of the excellent road and rail access and proximity to the agricultural markets of south western Canada and north western USA.
"We are yet to explore Marten, which was secured in February 2014, and are planning a small targeted drill and trenching programme with the extraction of approximately 1,000 tonne bulk sample.
"The acquisition of two new tenements has resulted in the joining of the Marten and Crows Nest tenements . This has the added benefit of more efficient use of exploration funds as there is no longer a need to have a separate exploration programme for Crows Nest to keep the tenements in good standing with the BC Ministry of Mines."
In June, Fertoz located historical phosphate mine shafts, associated stockpiles and a road base pit containing phosphate. Assays of phosphate stockpile samples using a portable Olympus X-Ray Flourescence (XRF) device were between 24% and 27% P2O5. Analysis over a grid traverse on the property was carried out with the XRF to locate the phosphorite zone which was found within a road base pit located 1,200m from the shafts. The pit averaged 20.7% P2O5 on the surface of the phosphorite zone using the portable XRF. The pit has good road access and is suitable for easy trenching. (Refer to ASX Announcement 11 June 2014.) In July Fertoz received approval to extract a phosphate bulk sample of up to 10,000 tonnes.
Both the Company's Wapiti and Fernie projects (Figure 3) are ideally located close to the major farming regions of eastern British Columbia and Western Alberta. The Fernie project is close to the USA border and opens up the north western USA agricultural market to Fertoz. Like Canada, farms in North America are a mixture of broad-acre and intensive agricultural operations, with farmers fertilizing their ground through either broad-acre spreading or directly into seed rows. There are numerous third-party distribution points throughout north western USA. Subject to a successful bulk sample campaign, Fertoz is aiming to have Fernie rock phosphate as a feedstock for these third-party distributors. This will allow farmers in north western USA to access Fertoz rock phosphate directly or via third-party agents and distributors who use Fertoz rock phosphate in their own fertilizer mixes.
Natures Way Farms was appointed recently as the first agent to on-sell Fertoz rock phosphate as well as investigate mixing Fertoz rock phosphate with other products that provide additional soil nutritional balance. Fertoz expects to appoint a number of marketing agents located in both Canada and the USA. The role of the marketing and distribution agents is to generate demand for Fertoz rock phosphate and to develop high value products.
About Fernie Project
Marten is a 1,739 hectare tenement package located 20km south east of Sparwood along Corbin Road between Fertoz's tenements at Crows Nest and Barnes Lake. The three lots of tenements, known as the Fernie Project, are located within 25kms of each other and are well supported by the established mining communities of Fernie and Sparwood, which are less than 30km away and provide a ready source of labour, business and government facilities. The area has well-developed road and rail transportation, links to ports on Canada's west coast and regional centres in Alberta and the north-western United States. The Fernie Project adjoins the largest agricultural area in Canada, responsible for 80% of Canadian agricultural output. It is on the border with the United States, the largest organic market in the world.
Fertoz plans to follow the low cost model of exploration and development successfully used at the Company's Wapiti Project.
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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