Verdant Receives Environmental Approval for Phosphate Project

Verdant Minerals (ASX:VRM) announced it received a crucial federal government environmental approval, allowing the company to proceed at is wholly-owned Ammaroo phosphate project in Australia.

The approval, which was needed in order to advance the project, was granted following a robust assessment of the Ammaroo project, conducted by the federal government’s department of Environment and Energy. The federal assessment is in accordance with part 9 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999.

“The receipt of federal government environmental approval represents a significant milestone in the permitting process and the attainment of a license to operate,” stated the company in a press release.

Verdant’s wholly-owned Ammaroo phosphate project is located 220km southeast of Tennant Creek. The project area is estimated to contain the billion tonne 40km long Ammaroo phosphate JORC resource, the satellite Ammaroo South JORC resource and the rockhole phosphate prospect.

Now that Verdant has received the federal approval, the company needs to attain the Northern Territory government approval through the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) assessment process. Currently, the company is in the process of finalizing the supplementary EIS in order to make its formal submission.

Earlier this month, the company announced it had raised AU$2 million through a share placement. The new capital will be used to help the company advance towards production at Ammaroo.

“We are very appreciative of the continuing support of existing shareholders and welcome new North American investors to the company who can see the potential value in the Ammaroo project as a long term supplier of phosphate products to growing markets in the Australia-Asia region,” said Verdant’s managing director, Chris Tziolis, in a press release.

“It is important that the company concludes the environmental approvals process with both the Australian federal and NT governments and finalizes the native title agreement with the central land council to underpin a license to operate.”

Verdant has valued the Ammaroo phosphate project at AU$344 million.

In addition to the Ammaroo phosphate project, Verdant is also invested in the Patanella phosphate project, formerly known as Lucy Creek. Patanella is a rock phosphate deposit on the opposite side of the Georgina Basin from Verdant’s  flagship Northern Territory Ammaroo resource.

Shares of Verdant were down 14.29 percent on Tuesday (June 26), ending the day at AU$0.018.

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 Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.