SAGUENAY, QUEBEC – (November 8, 2017) – Arianne Phosphate (the “Company” or “Arianne”) (TSX VENTURE: DAN; OTC: DRRSF; FRANKFURT: JE9N), a development-stage phosphate mining company, advancing the Lac à Paul phosphate rock project in Quebec’s Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, has initiated the work required to produce additional phosphate concentrate. Arianne has taken this step to meet the growing interest it has been receiving from parties looking to secure Arianne’s high-purity concentrate for testing. The increased demand in many cases has come from parties that had originally received samples and are now looking to follow up with considerably larger quantities. As well, the Company is seeing increased interest from organizations in Europe that may be affected by stricter environmental legislation and, are looking to diversify their supply towards a “cleaner” high-purity phosphate.
“Almost every group that we talk to looks at our spec sheets and wants samples of our rock,” said Jean-Sébastien David, Chief Operating Officer of Arianne Phosphate. “As the global demand for phosphate continues to grow year over year, additional supplies will be required in the next few years and, companies today are looking to secure that supply for tomorrow. Our phosphate ranks amongst the purest in the world and as environmental concerns grow, we should see a move towards sourcing higher quality rock. As well, the fact that our project is located in a safe geopolitical region is a plus as consumers of phosphate rock look to mitigate all the risks they can.”
In order to produce the samples, Arianne produced 125 tonnes of unrefined (bulk sample) rock from its Paul Zone and stockpiled the ore. This ore will be sent to COREM (Consortium of applied research for the processing and transformation of mineral substances) of Quebec and will be treated there to produce Arianne’s high-purity phosphate concentrate grading 39% P2O5. The process will yield roughly fifteen (15) tonnes of finished apatite concentrate that will be available for potential customers. The Company has been using COREM since 2011 and their familiarity with Arianne’s rock should allow for a timely and efficient process.
