Progress continues with the trials being undertaken by Harvest Minerals Limited (LON:HMI) on product from its multi-nutrient direct application natural fertiliser (DANF) project at Arapua, in the heart of the Brazilian agriculture belt in Minas Gerais.
The company's focus has been on completing first-round agronomic test work so that an application for certification of KPfértil as a remineraliser can be submitted to the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA).
KPfértil is an organic, multi-nutrient slow release fertiliser and remineraliser produced from a weathered potassium and phosphate-rich lava, which offers many economic and agronomic benefits.
As part of the certification process, the Company has been undertaking multiple agronomy trials, which are being conducted by three organisations: The Federal University of Varginha, The Institute of Agricultural Research of Cerrado, and The Federal University of Uberlandia.
The results from the latest round of tests are due imminently, which will allow the application to MAPA to be submitted by late July.
Subject to MAPA responding in a timely fashion, the Company anticipates registration of KPfértil as a remineraliser by the end of 2017, following which an application for its registration as a fertiliser, to further broaden the market, can be made, if thought necessary by the company.
In addition to progressing the agronomic test work and registration processes, the company actively continues to investigate potential off-take agreements and aims to strengthen its product sales team as the year progresses.
Harvest anticipates recording first product sales in Q3 2017 as customers start to incorporate KPfértil into their cropping programmes. The company has significant scope to meet customer demand, having recently stockpiled a total of 50,000 tonnes of product.
Notably, as announced on 27 February 2017, Arapua has a JORC (2012) indicated and inferred resource is 13.07Mt at 3.1% K20 and 2.49% P205, which translates into a mine life of over 100 years at a production rate of 450,000 tonnes per annum.
And this is based on drilling just 6.7% of the known mineralisation.