- American Pacific Borates (ABR) has provided updates on its Fort Cady Borate Mine in southeastern California
- Construction is continuing to progress and significant equipment is beginning to arrive on site
- This ensures the company remains on track for first production in Q3
- ABR’s sales and marketing activities are developing and product branding will be confirmed soon
- Finally, the company is waiting on initial results from a crop trial that used its boron-enriched sulphate of potash (SOP) fertiliser
- ABR shares are up 2.99 per cent and are currently trading for 86 cents each
American Pacific Borates (ABR) has provided updates on its Fort Cady Borate Mine in southeastern California.
Fort Cady is the largest known contained borate occurrence in the world that is not owned by Rio Tinto or Eti Maden.
It has a JORC mineral resource of 120.4 million metric tonnes at 6.5 per cent boron oxide and 340 parts per million (ppm) lithium for 7.8 metric tonnes of contained boron oxide.
Construction
Construction is continuing to progress with equipment arriving on site.
These activities should place ABR in a position to deliver its first production in Q3 2021.
Sales and marketing
ABR is developing sales and marketing activities with product branding for the United States to be confirmed shortly.
Operational permit
On May 11, ABR announced that it is expected to be awarded the final operational permit to begin construction activities this quarter.
Further, the referral authority has completed the community consultation phase without any issue.
Crop trials
ABR is waiting on initial results from a crop trial that used its boron-enriched sulphate of potash (SOP) fertiliser.
Crops using ABR’s SOP plus B (potassium, sulphur and boron) fertiliser are expected to outperform standard fertilisers and give the company a significant advantage in the fertiliser market.
Staff
Finally, ABR is in the process of hiring two additional employees, bringing its total to six, and more hires are expected to join as operations begin.
“We are delighted to see more equipment arriving on-site as we aim to deliver on our promise to be in production in Q3 CY21,” CEO and Managing Director Michael Schlumpberger commented.
“We have also made positive steps with respect to bolstering our directly employed Californian based team to ensure we have the full capability to deliver as construction activities increase at the Fort Cady Borate Mine,” he said.
“On the sales and marketing front, we plan to unveil our product branding strategy this quarter following positive early results from our “boron-enriched SOP fertiliser” crop trials,” he added.
ABR shares are up 2.99 per cent and are trading for 86 cents each at 1:42 pm AEST.