Annual Report to Shareholders 30 June 2015
Brisbane, Sep 30, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Fertoz Ltd (
ASX:FTZ) are pleased to provide the Company's Annual Report to shareholders for 30 June 2015.
Chairman's Message:
Dear Fellow Shareholder,
It is my pleasure to present the 2015 Annual Report for Fertoz Limited (ASX:FTZ ).
Fertoz is a phosphate exploration and development company which is developing the Wapiti and Fernie phosphate deposits in Canada, trialling phosphate products developed from those deposits on Canadian farms, exploring the Dry Ridge project in Idaho USA and working with Australian business's through the FertAg joint venture.
The Company's main focus is on commencing commercial production in Canada as soon as possible, servicing the local organic farming market as well as conventional farmers looking for alternatives to standard, high leaching fertilisers. Wapiti product is well located and ideally suited to satisfying this growing demand.
The last 12 months has seen the Company confirm the mining method at Wapiti and Fernie through collection of approximately 2,200 t of bulk sample, submit a small mine application licence for Wapiti, upgraded part of the Wapiti resource to the Indicated category and completed a Wapiti Scoping Study. In the USA, the Company has been granted exploration approval for the Dry Ridge project in Idaho.
To increase shareholder value and leverage, the Company plans to keep capital requirements low by running with a contract mining model to start Wapiti, and just produce bulk rock phosphate. Later development will entail bagging operations and blending the rock phosphate with other resources to make additional fertiliser products, and also moving to an owner-operator model.
The USA and Canada are both net importers of phosphate rock and are two of the largest agricultural economies in the world. The Company aims to supply direct application phosphate rock with minimal processing to both the lucrative organic and conventional fertiliser markets in both countries. The USA is the largest organic food market in the world while Canada is the fourth largest. Organic farmers in the USA and Canada need to use natural fertilisers in order to retain their organic certification, which is critical as organic crops command significantly higher prices than crops from conventional farms. The Wapiti and Fernie rock phosphates are particularly suited to acidic soils, which cover much of Canada and the lower parts of the USA.
In Australia the Company has formed Fertoz Agriculture Pty Ltd ("FertAg") which is a joint venture ("JV") between Fertoz Limited and Vast Resources Pty Ltd. The JV was established to distribute fused calcium magnesium silicate phosphate products to potential customers in Australia and New Zealand, which counter the acidic soils found across much of Australia's key farming regions.
Given the A$/US$ exchange rate and the high cost of importing the FertAg product the venture in Australia has proven to be more challenging than envisaged. Although now restructured to be cash-neutral, the FertAg venture has shown the Company that owning and controlling the resource, as the Company has in Canada and the USA, is critical.
As advised on 31 July 2015, Stephen Keith, a successful and highly experienced Canada-based phosphate executive, assumed the role of Managing Director ("MD") and Les Szonyi has stepped down as MD . Les will focus on progressing the Australian FertAg joint venture. He will assist Stephen with the handover of our North American activities and the many phosphate trials and relationships that have been developed over the last two years.
It has been a challenging time in the junior exploration and development space over the last few months and the Board has taken the view that the Canadian operations continue to represent the best opportunity for the Company, especially now that a Scoping Study has been completed and farm trials are underway. Early results look encouraging and the demand for organic fertilisers and produce continues unabated.
Thank you for all your support over the last year. We look forward to updating shareholders in the near future about progress in Canada and Australia.
James Chisholm
Chairman
To view the Annual Report, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-FTZ-881957.pdf
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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