Disseminated on Behalf of: Millennial Potash Corp.
Farhad Abasov, CEO of Millennial Potash (TSXV: MLP | OTCQB: MLPNF | FSE: X0D), discusses the company’s recent $4M strategic investment from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, progress on the Banio Potash Project in Gabon, its competitive advantages in scale, cost, and location, the strong support from the Gabonese government, and the company’s upcoming milestones, including a revised resource report, feasibility study, and potential off-take agreements.
Jim Gordon
Hi, I am Jim Gordon and you’re watching Market One Minute. Joining us is Farhad Abasov. He is the chairman and director of Millennial Potash Corporation. Farhad, welcome.
Farhad Abasov
Hi, Jim. Good to be here.
Jim Gordon
Great to have you, sir. Okay, let’s jump right in. Let’s talk about Millennial Potash and the strategic investment you recently received.
Farhad Abasov
Yes. As you know, Millennial Potash has just received $4 million of commitment from United States Development Finance Corporation. USDFC is a premier development finance institution from the United States, and their main mandate is to help developing countries expand their resource base, other businesses and industries.
And this is a major milestone for the company because A, it’s a stamp of approval by a major development financing institution and by the US government. And second thing is a non-dilutive investment for our shareholders. And the most important thing is that down the road USDFC can actually help us with construction funding.
Jim Gordon
And can you update us on the Banio Project?
Farhad Abasov
We’ve been making tremendous progress on our Banio Potash Project in Gabon. As you know, we drilled two holes this year and we’re planning to drill one more later, but in the next couple of months we’re going to have a revised, expanded resource report and that will include the two holes from last year as well as two holes that we would drill this year.
And the plan is to launch a feasibility study, again help with the USDFC investment later this year, alongside with environmental assessment studies. And we plan to finish those two programs in the next few months as well, probably in the first or second quarter of next year.
Jim Gordon
And how do you see the Banio Project positioning itself against global competitors?
Farhad Abasov
Banio Potash Project is unique in terms of its location, in terms of its geology. As our shareholders have already seen, we’re intersecting very thick potash horizons and probably we think it’s going to be one of the thickest potash deposits in the world.
And as you know, we’ve done a preliminary economic assessment in the past and the PEA shows, again, very robust numbers. We think that based on the PEA numbers we’re looking at one of the lowest operating costs, also one of the lowest CAPEX and sustaining CAPEX going forward.
So, in addition to those two major advantages we have, we also happen to be on the coast. So, that means our logistics and infrastructure will be much easier compared to many other potash projects worldwide.
Jim Gordon
And Farhad, you mentioned the country of Gabon. How important is their government’s backing to your success?
Farhad Abasov
The Gabonese government has been very supportive of this project. His Excellency, the President, has been to the site before. We have met him on a couple of occasions, and the President also was in attendance when we signed the agreement with the USDFC early this month in Washington DC.
So, we see that support not only from the President himself, but also from different ministries within Gabon. And that translates into actual support on the ground in terms of developing the port, developing power infrastructure, as well as extending natural gas pipeline to the port where we’re going to be building all our facilities.
So overall, we think this support is critical. And now with USDFC’s investment, I think we’re going to have support not only from the US government agency, but, of course, from the Gabonese government as well.
Jim Gordon
Finally, what can investors expect from you over the next 12 to 18 months?
Farhad Abasov
12 to 18 months are going to be very eventful for the company, because we’re finishing our second stage of drilling. And then we will come up with our expanded revised 43-101 technical report. That’s going to probably happen in the next couple of months.
And then after that, we’ll launch feasibility study alongside with the environmental assessment study. So, in addition to that, we’re planning to drill perhaps one or more hole during the feasibility study. So, we’re going to be very busy. On top of it, of course, we’re talking to a lot of different strategic investors and potential off-takers down the road as well.
So, we think that in the next probably 12 to 18 months, the company is going to be at a completely different stage, meaning that instead of being at exploration stage today, we’re going to be at a stage where we’ll be in a position to apply for a mining permit after finishing feasibility study.
Jim Gordon
Farhad Abasov, thank you for joining us.
Farhad Abasov
Thanks so much, Jim.
To learn more about Millennial Potash, visit their website here.
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