Arianne Partners with New Brunswick for Plant Review

Canadian-based phosphate mining company Arianne Phosphate (TSXV:DAN,OTCMKTS:DRRSF,FWB:JE9N), has announced that it has partnered with the Province of New Brunswick to further its review of constructing a phosphoric acid plant in Belledune, New Brunswick.

Arianne Phosphate is currently developing the Lac à Paul phosphate deposits located approximately 200 km north of the Saguenay area of Quebec.

As quoted from the press release:

As part of this agreement, the Government, through Opportunities New Brunswick (ONB), will provide a financial contribution toward the cost of a prefeasibility study, the next step in Arianne’s assessment of its downstream opportunity.

“Over the last year, Arianne has been reviewing the possibility of vertically integrating its own phosphate rock production into a facility to produce phosphoric acid,” said Brian Ostroff, CEO of Arianne Phosphate. “Our work to date has been positive and, especially with the industry now recovering from a five-year slump, it makes sense to move the idea to the next step, a prefeasibility study. We are in an enviable position. By having our own phosphate rock, we have the flexibility of either being a seller of our rock to those who need it or, going downstream and capturing that additional margin ourselves.”

After the review of several locations Arianne believes that Belledune, New Brunswick would be a strong location to construct a plant. Most of the crucial infrastructure is already in place, namely a port that has the additional capacity to handle our operation, access to a skilled labour force, easy-access to some of the other necessary ingredients beyond Arianne’s phosphate rock and, a strong willingness of would-be stakeholders to see this project advance.

Click here to read the full announcement