Itafos Provides Update on Itafos Conda Operations During COVID-19 Pandemic and Plant Turnaround
July 10 2020 - 5:49PM
Itafos (TSX-V: IFOS) (the “
Company”) provided
today an update regarding Itafos Conda’s operations during the
COVID-19 pandemic and plant turnaround plans for 2020.
Itafos Conda has been deemed an essential
business as part of the fertilizer and agriculture sector and
therefore has not been forced to shut down operations on account of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
Company has implemented risk mitigation measures at Itafos Conda to
address potential impacts to its employees, contractors and
operations. To date, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19
amongst employees and one confirmed case amongst contractors at
Itafos Conda. The confirmed contractor case of COVID-19 was an
isolated incident and the contractor is quarantined offsite.
As a part of its risk mitigation measures during
the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company has decided to conduct a reduced
scope plant turnaround at Itafos Conda during 2020. The reduced
scope plant turnaround would primarily rely upon Itafos Conda’s
employees and local contractors whereas a full scope plant
turnaround would necessitate bringing to site hundreds of
contractors and specialists, many of whom originate from areas of
the US that have been experiencing significant spikes in confirmed
cases of COVID-19.
“Our team at Itafos Conda continues to
demonstrate a safety-first approach to operational excellence. Our
risk mitigation measures, including the reduced scope plant
turnaround, are intended to ensure that Itafos Conda can continue
to safely deliver quality phosphate products to our customers while
doing our part to minimize the spread of COVID-19,” said Tim
Vedder, General Manager of Itafos Conda.
Itafos Conda is expecting to temporarily shut
down its operations for approximately 10 days during July 2020 in
order to complete the reduced scope plant turnaround. The reduced
scope plant turnaround will be focused on inspection, testing and
preventative maintenance of critical equipment. Itafos Conda
expects to complete the remaining scope of activities associated
with a full scope turnaround, including cleaning the phosphate rock
reactor, during 2021.
About Itafos
The Company is a pure play phosphate and
specialty fertilizer platform with an attractive portfolio of
strategic businesses and projects located in key fertilizer
markets, including North America, South America and Africa.
The Company’s businesses and projects are as
follows:
- Itafos Conda – a vertically integrated phosphate mine and
fertilizer business with production and sales capacity of
approximately 550kt per year of monoammonium phosphate (“MAP”), MAP
with micronutrients (“MAP+”), superphosphoric acid (“SPA”),
merchant grade phosphoric acid (“MGA”) and ammonium polyphosphate
(“APP”) located in Idaho, US;
- Itafos Arraias – a vertically integrated phosphate mine and
fertilizer business with production and sales capacity of
approximately 500kt per year of single superphosphate
(“SSP”), SSP with micronutrients
(“SSP+”) and approximately 40kt per year of excess
sulfuric acid located in Tocantins, Brazil;
- Itafos Farim – a high-grade phosphate mine project located in
Farim, Guinea-Bissau;
- Itafos Paris Hills – a high-grade phosphate mine project
located in Idaho, US;
- Itafos Santana – a vertically integrated high-grade phosphate
mine and fertilizer plant project located in Pará, Brazil;
- Itafos Mantaro – a phosphate mine project located in Junin,
Peru; and
- Itafos Araxá – a vertically integrated rare earth elements and
niobium mine and extraction plant project located in Minas Gerais,
Brazil.
For more information, or to join the Company’s
mailing list to receive notification of future news releases,
please visit the Company’s website at www.itafos.com.
Forward Looking Information
Certain information contained in this news
release constitutes forward looking information. All information
other than information of historical fact is forward looking
information. The use of any of the words “intend”, “anticipate”,
“plan”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”,
“should”, “would”, “believe”, “predict” and “potential” and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward looking information.
This information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ
materially from those anticipated in such forward looking
information. No assurance can be given that this information will
prove to be correct and such forward looking information included
in this news release should not be unduly relied upon.
Forward looking information is subject to a
number of risks and other factors that could cause actual results
and events to vary materially from that anticipated by such forward
looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in forward-looking statements,
there may be other factors that cause results not to be as
anticipated, estimated or intended. Factors that may cause actual
results to differ materially from expected results described in
forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those
risk factors set out in the Company’s Management Discussion and
Analysis and other disclosure documents available under the
Company’s profile at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at
www.itafos.com. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of
risks, uncertainties and assumptions are not exhaustive. The
forward-looking information included in this news release is
expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and is made as of
the date of this news release. The Company undertakes no obligation
to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information except
as required by applicable securities laws.
NEITHER THE 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 NEWS RELEASE.
For further information, please
contact:
Itafos Investor
Relationsinvestor@itafos.comwww.itafos.com
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