SAGUENAY, QUEBEC – (October 31, 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, is pleased to announce that it has completed its Information Memorandum. This document is being provided to financial institutions that have expressed an interest in the project and want to assess the possibility of being included in the project finance syndicate.
The Information Memorandum is the result of many months of hard work between the Company and independent parties that have come in to evaluate and confirm the project from the perspective of the lenders. The final stages of due diligence for the document were completed after preliminary interest was confirmed through the execution of Confidentiality Agreements on the part of qualified financial institutions.
The role of the independent engineers was to subject the Lac à Paul project to a full due diligence process. Every aspect of the project from extraction, processing, infrastructure and environmental were subject to review. From this, projected CapEx and OpEx were built into a broad financial model that will allow the respective finance partners to assess their interest in moving forward and participating in the project finance.
“It has been a long and demanding process,” said Brian Ostroff, CEO of Arianne Phosphate. “I am not entirely certain that those who have not been through this before, either as investor or project developer, can truly appreciate the time and effort this takes to complete; every aspect of the project is subject to scrutiny and needs to be validated. What we do know coming out of this twelve-month due diligence process is that all aspects of our project have been checked and re-checked by independent parties and, we were able to demonstrate the robustness of our project to those who are there to insure an independent assessment.”
“Another big benefit of this process has been some of the ideas generated on how, down the road, our team can yet further improve the project,” said Jean-Sebastien David, Arianne Phosphate’s COO. “Having all of these experienced groups review our Lac à Paul development has been tremendously informative and will make our project even better. What is important is that these groups have walked away with what we have believed for some time; this is a very robust project.”
Lastly, as part of the review process, an independent analysis of the global phosphate market was undertaken. The report supports the need for additional projects as added supply will be required if we are to meet the persistent demand growth projected over the next few years. The fact that Arianne possesses a rare igneous type phosphate deposit should also drive interest. The phosphate concentrate that will be produced will be low in contaminants and allow for a much-desired end-product. The study further confirms that premium prices for this type of phosphate concentrate will continue to exist and, the Arianne project will have a cash operating cost that should make it amongst the most competitive in the world.
Once the Company has received confirmation from potential financiers, Arianne will work with its advisors to construct a comprehensive project finance package that should involve various tranches of debt, equipment finance, off-take and equity.
