WELLINGTON, New Zealand,
March 15, 2018 /CNW/ - Chatham Rock
Phosphate Limited (TSXV: "NZP" and NZAX: "CRP" or the
"Company") wishes to advise shareholders of a recent article
by Richard Taylor in International
Policy Digest that has commented on the effects of the proposed
lowering of accepted cadmium levels in phosphate rock imported into
EU countries.
In this article it is estimated that a lowering of the limit to
20 gm/kg will effectively bar 95% of phosphate ore from entering
the EU market.
CRP cannot confirm that estimate but we do know that the reduced
cadmium limits will affect a significant proportion of traded rock
phosphate including rock sourced from Egypt, Israel, Boucraa & Youssoufia (Western Sahara/Morocco), Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Nauru and Christmas
Island.
As the EU ban on high cadmium levels has arisen due to food
safety concerns, it would be logical to assume that similar
restrictions will occur in other regions. There have been voluntary
restrictions in place in New
Zealand for many years.
According to Chatham Rock Phosphate managing director
Chris Castle "the good news for
Chatham Rock Phosphate shareholders is that cadmium levels in
Chatham Rise rock phosphate are among the lowest in the world."
Mr Castle said the rock, located on the Chatham Rise seabed east
of New Zealand showed an average
of 2.2 parts per million (expressed as mg/kg of P) from a range of
samples gathered by CRP in 2012 from 11 separate locations. The
lowest value was 1.3 parts per million with a high of 5.3 parts per
million.
Rock phosphate is already the scarcest of the three fertiliser
constituents used to sustain world food and primary sector
production. And if world-wide sales restrictions are placed on 95%
of that resource the likely effect on the market value of the
remaining 5% of traded phosphate rock (and its producers) can only
be imagined.
About Chatham Rock Phosphate
Chatham Rock Phosphate is the custodian of New Zealand's only material resource of
ultra-low cadmium, environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate
fertiliser. Our key role is connecting the resource with those who
need it.
Using this phosphate will support sustainable farming practices,
including healthier soil profiles and reduced accumulation of the
heavy metal cadmium, reducing carbon emissions and dramatically
lowering runoff to waterways and shrinking fertiliser needs over
time.
The resource represents one of New
Zealand's most valuable mineral assets and is of huge
strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain
New Zealand's high agricultural
productivity.
New Zealand's current access to
phosphate is vulnerable to economic and political events in the six
countries controlling 98% of the world's phosphate reserves, with
85% of the total in the Western Saharan state of Morocco.
Chatham takes very seriously
the responsibility vested in it through its mining permit to use
the world's best knowledge and technology to safely extract this
resource to help sustainably feed the world.
Our initial environmental consenting process independently
established extraction would have no significant impact on fishing
yields or profitability, marine mammals or seabirds.
Neither the Exchange, its Regulation Service Provider (as
that term is defined under the policies of the Exchange), or NZX
Limited has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction
and associated transactions, and has neither approved nor
disapproved of the contents of this press release.
SOURCE Chatham Rock Phosphate