Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Centrex’s (CXM) subsidiary Agriflex signs a deal with Ballance Agri-Nutrients for a trial shipment of phosphate rock
- The agreement covers the sale of 5,000 wet tonnes of beneficiated phosphate rock to Ballance from Centrex’s Ardmore Mine in Queensland
- The shipment is conditional upon upgrades to the processing plant being completed by Agriflex to its satisfaction, and all necessary approvals being received
- Centrex says the contract with Ballance comes at an opportune time on the back of phosphate rock reaching the highest price in over a decade
- Centrex is up 8.33 per cent, trading at 13 cents at 1:20 pm AEST
Centrex’s (CXM) wholly-owned subsidiary Agriflex has signed a deal with Ballance Agri-Nutrients for a trial shipment of phosphate rock.
Ballance is a farmer-owned fertiliser company which manufactures and sells fertilisers, as well as agricultural nutrient products, to farmers throughout New Zealand.
The agreement covers the sale of 5,000 wet tonnes of beneficiated phosphate rock, which will be shipped to Ballance from Centrex’s Ardmore Mine in north west Queensland.
The deal includes a first right of refusal to purchase 20 per cent of Ardmore’s annual production for the first three years.
The shipment has been sold on a free on-board basis, and will be loaded in Townsville during September at a fee in line with current market pricing.
The trial shipment is conditional upon upgrades to the processing plant being completed by Agriflex to its satisfaction, and all necessary approvals being received.
The term of the agreement also covers the period during the trial shipment and first right of refusal obligations.
“Agriflex is proud to be entering into this agreement and the potential to work further with Ballance to improve New Zealand’s supply security of phosphate rock,” Centrex’s Managing Director Robert Mencel said.
“With the signing of this agreement, the Ardmore Project has 90 per cent of its first three years of production allocated to major customers in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.”
Centrex said the contract with Ballance comes at an opportune time on the back of phosphate rock reaching its highest prices since mid-2009.
The company’s updated definitive feasibility study from August 2021 used a benchmark rock phosphate price of US$125 per tonne (A$180.74), and generated project gross revenue of $1.4 billion.
However, the current price of $249.5 per tonne marks a 100 per cent increase to the benchmark price used in the August study.
Centrex was up 8.33 per cent, trading at 13 cents at 1:20 pm AEST.
