Centurion Minerals Ltd’s joint venture operating partner (Demetra Fertilizantes S.A. or DFSA) has confirmed receipt of a “follow-on” purchase order for export totalling 7,500 t of agri-gypsum fertilizer products processed at the JV’s Ana Sofia project, Argentina. Additional domestic and export orders are currently in negotiation and will be announced as they are finalised. Preparations have commenced to fulfil the above-mentioned purchase order and the company anticipates completion of delivery within the first half of its fiscal year. The purchase consists of both premium powder and granular materials, as well as a blended product having a total value of some C$650,000.
Centurion’s President & CEO, David Tafel, commented: “We are pleased to see the efforts of DFSA to expand its customer base, have started to yield repeat business. This purchase order represents a tonnage increase four times larger than the client’s initial filled order.”
Demetra’s President, Sebastian Cattaneo, also commented: “With export sales priced in US$, we’ve limited our risk associated with Argentina’s present currency fluctuations. In fact, we’re selling fertiliser in US$, while our production costs are largely denominated in Argentine Pesos.”
The Ana Sofia project includes an agri-gypsum open pit mine and processing facility having a current design capacity of 4,000 t/month. Gypsum is extracted from near-surface, flat-lying beds within the sedimentary formation that extends throughout the Ana Sofia property, located in Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina. The gypsum rock is fed into primary and secondary crushers, then screened and sorted into two agri-gypsum fertiliser products. The plant is designed to produce a pellet-sized granular product and a fine powder product (comprised of a minimum 85% gypsum content) that are each packaged into one tonne tote bags. Agricultural gypsum (calcium sulphate dihydrate) is a valuable plant nutrient and plays a vital role in maintaining soil structure and nutrient balance in South American soils, resulting in enhanced crop yields.
The project comprises two mining concessions totalling 50 ha in size within a larger (about 600 ha) exploration permit area. It is well situated within a region where other small producers are currently extracting agricultural gypsum and selling to fertiliser distributors and farmers. An initial inferred gypsum resource for the project was estimated to comprise 1.47 Mt averaging 94.1% gypsum, using an 85% cut-off grade that is the minimum required gypsum content for commercial-quality agricultural gypsum products in Argentina.