DAN: TSX-V (Canada)
JE9N: FSE (Germany)
DRRSF: OTC (USA)
SAGUENAY, QC, Feb. 19, 2019 /CNW
Telbec/ - Arianne Phosphate (the "Company" or
"Arianne") (TSXV: DAN) (OTC: DRRSF) (FRANKFURT:
JE9N), a development-stage phosphate mining company,
advancing the Lac à Paul project in Quebec's Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, is
pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jean Fontaine to the Company's Board of
Directors.
Mr. Fontaine is the Founder and President of JEFO Nutrition
Inc., a global leader in high-performance non-medicated nutritional
solutions for animals. Founded in 1982, JEFO has successfully
grown its business and its products are now marketed in 80
countries. Mr. Fontaine brings with an extremely successful
and distinguished career.
"I understand what it takes to build a successful international
company," commented Jean
Fontaine. "I am fully aware of the challenges that
smaller companies face and believe, from what I have seen, that
Arianne has the ingredients in place to become a success
story. I look forward to bringing my expertise to the Board
and working with management to influence this success. I also
believe that my strong agricultural background and international
network will help this happen."
"Mr. Fontaine's appointment has come at a very significant time
for Arianne," said Dominique
Bouchard, Arianne Phosphate's Executive Chairman. "Mr.
Fontaine has a proven record of growing business through
innovation, entrepreneurship and global market penetration.
These skills will be a strong addition to the Board and overall
direction of Arianne."
In conjunction with Mr. Fontaine's appointment to the Board, he
has been granted 200,000 stock options. Each Option entitles
the holder to purchase one common share of the Company until
February 18, 2029 at a price of
$0.40 per share, this being the
closing price of the Company's shares on the trading day preceding
the date of grant. The Options are subject to a three-year vesting
period under the Plan and the Policy and are also subject to
regulatory approval.
CORPORATE UPDATE:
The fourth quarter of 2018 was very significant for Arianne
Phosphate as the Company successfully executed on significant
milestones necessary to bring its Lac à Paul project into
development.
During the quarter, Arianne executed two commercial offtake
agreements (see press releases dated September 25, 2018 and December 13, 2018) demonstrating strong
commercial interest in its phosphate concentrate. These
agreements provide for premium pricing, acknowledging the superior
quality of Arianne's high-end, low-contaminant concentrate.
These agreements are a significant step towards satisfying the
financing requirements put forth by project lenders and, these
discussions have progressed with significant interest.
Arianne is also continuing negotiations with several other parties
to reach similar offtake agreements so that it may satisfy the
borrowing requirements put forth by the project finance
banks. In parallel, Arianne is also engaged in discussions
focusing on bringing in strategic partners and 2018 has seen an
increase in both interest and activity on this front.
In October of 2018, the Port of Saguenay received approval for
the construction of a maritime terminal on the north shore of the
Saguenay River (see press release dated October 23, 2018) from which, ships will be
loaded with Arianne's phosphate concentrate for delivery to
international markets. This associated with Arianne's receipt
of its Ministerial Decree [permit] for the mine and, a
collaboration agreement with the Innu First Nations, have addressed
major environmental and social acceptability requirements that pave
the way forward for the development of the Company's Lac à Paul
project.
The year also saw Arianne reach an agreement with the Province
of New Brunswick to explore the
possibility of a phosphoric acid facility (see press release dated
August 9, 2018) that would use the
Company's phosphate concentrate to produce downstream
products. With grants in place, Arianne can move forward on a
preliminary feasibility study surrounding the opportunity and make
commercial decisions based on the report. If favorable, this
opportunity could represent a substantial end-use of the Company's
product and allow for Arianne to become vertically integrated.
Lastly, the appointment of Mr. Fontaine to our board continues
the trend of upgrading Arianne's Board and Management. Mr.
Fontaine's appointment follows the appointment of Claude Lafleur to the Company's board (see press
release dated August 30, 2018) and
the addition of Andrew Malashewsky
as Arianne's new CFO (see press release dated January 24, 2019). These additions continue
to enhance the skills necessary for Arianne to proceed to
construction.
"I am doubtful that most investors have closely followed
Arianne's progress or, are fully aware of what the Company has
accomplished," said Brian Ostroff,
CEO of Arianne Phosphate. "As we know, early-stage mineral
exploration is a very risky proposition and most companies outright
fail to find economically viable deposits. Beyond this, even
if a viable deposit is found, a project still requires favorable
economics including demand for the underlying commodity, access to
infrastructure, or the possibility of building it economically, a
supportive population and, of course, all the necessary regulatory
and permitting approvals. Over the years Arianne has done just
that, taking it's Lac à Paul project successfully through all these
steps, de-risking it along the way. Today, the Company sits
on one of the world's most significant phosphate assets; permitted,
economically viable and shovel-ready. How many people
recognize this, I am not sure. The last step for Arianne is
to continue to work with potential funders and partners and bring
the asset into development; unlocking the tremendous social and
economic benefit that comes with it."
Aside from Arianne's corporate developments, the macro
environment improved through 2018. After a very difficult
period (2012-2017) in which phosphate prices, and overall
fertilizer prices declined substantially, we have seen a definite
improvement. Despite lower prices for five years, demand for
phosphate continued to grow annually and this continually improving
demand has provided a strong foundation for the increase in prices
that has been seen in 2018. For the year, phosphate prices
have increased roughly 25% as the industry now looks to secure
supply going forward and, many industry analysts believe that
prices should continue to increase.
Qualified Person
Jean-Sébastien
David, P.Geo., Qualified Person by NI 43-101, has approved this
release. Mr. David is also the Company's Chief Operating
Officer.
About Arianne Phosphate
Arianne Phosphate ("Arianne
Phosphate Inc.") (www.arianne-inc.com) is developing the Lac à Paul
phosphate deposits located approximately 200 km north of the
Saguenay/Lac St. Jean area of Quebec, Canada. These deposits will produce a high
quality igneous apatite concentrate grading 39%
P2O5 with little or no contaminants
(Feasibility Study released in 2013). The Company has 105,803,943
million shares outstanding.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Follow Arianne
on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ariannephosphate
Twitter: http://twitter.com/arianne_dan
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ArianneResources
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arianneresources
Resource Investing
News: http://resourceinvestingnews.com/?s=Arianne
Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking
Information
This news release contains "forward-looking statements"
and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable
securities regulations in Canada
and the United States
(collectively, "forward-looking information"). Forward-looking
information includes, but is not limited to,
anticipated quality and production of the apatite concentrate
at the Lac à Paul project. Often, but not always, forward-looking
information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans",
"expects, "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates",
forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes", or the
negatives thereof or variations of such words and phrases or
statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could",
"would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Forward-looking information is subject to be known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual
results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the
Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied
by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to:
volatile stock price; risks related to changes in commodity prices;
sources and cost of power facilities; the estimation of initial and
sustaining capital requirements; the estimation of labour and
operating costs; the general global markets and economic
conditions; the risk associated with exploration, development and
operations of mineral deposits; the estimation of mineral reserves
and resources; the risks associated with uninsurable risks arising
during the course of exploration, development and production; risks
associated with currency fluctuations; environmental risks;
competition faced in securing experienced personnel; access to
adequate infrastructure to support mining, processing, development
and exploration activities; the risks associated with changes in
the mining regulatory regime governing the Company; completion of
the environmental assessment process; risks related to regulatory
and permitting delays; risks related to potential conflicts of
interest; the reliance on key personnel; financing, capitalization
and liquidity risks including the risk that the financing necessary
to fund continued exploration and development activities at Lac à
Paul project may not be available on satisfactory terms, or at all;
the risk of potential dilution through the issue of common shares;
the risk of litigation. Forward-looking information is based on
assumptions management believes to be reasonable at the time such
statements are made, including but not limited to, continued
exploration activities, no material adverse change in commodity
prices, exploration and development plans proceeding in accordance
with plans and such plans achieving their stated expected outcomes,
receipt of required regulatory approval, and such other assumptions
and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted
to identify important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking
information, there may be other factors that cause results not to
be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such forward-looking information. Accordingly,
readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
information. Forward-looking information is made as of the date of
this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update
such forward-looking information except in accordance with
applicable securities laws.
SOURCE Arianne Phosphate Inc.