African Potash

African Potash is a London quoted company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange. It is focused on building a vertically integrated platform for the mining, production and distribution of fertiliser. Its operations are primarily focussed on potash assets within the African continent.

It has a market capitalisation of approximately £17.24m as of 2 November 2015.

History

In August 2015, it entered into a trading agreement with the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA), a free trade union of twenty African member states, and the Mask Africa Crowd Farm Fun Limited (MACFF), to supply and deliver at least 500,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser on an annual basis^[1] for an initial three-year period. Since the agreement, it has secured multiple agreements to supply fertiliser to numerous African member states, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia. The Company is focussed on further building upon these trade agreements, recognising the important role fertiliser can play in achieving food security in Africa.

On the 26 October 2015, African Potash announced the appointment of Conservative party politician, Rt Hon Mark Simmonds,^[2] who previously served as a Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness, to the Board. He formerly served as Foreign and Commonwealth Minister for Africa.

Further to this appointment, on 28 October 2015 the Rt Hon Lord Peter Hain joined the Board.^[3] Lord Peter Hain was a Cabinet Minister for seven years and a government minister for five years, holding a number of positions including Foreign Minister, Europe Minister and Energy Minister. He is due to become a Member of the House of Lords in November 2015.

Operations

Potash is the common name for various potassium-bearing materials and compounds and it improves the water retention, yield, nutrient value, taste, colour and texture of crops and is commonly applied to a wide range of fruits and vegetables, as well as rice, wheat, corn and other grains, sugar, soybeans, palm oil and cotton, all of which benefit from the nutrient's quality enhancing properties. Higher demand for food is having to be satisfied by obtaining higher yields from existing acreage, which in turn requires the increased use of fertilisers to maintain the balance of nutrients found in soil. Crucially, there is currently no commercially viable alternative to potash as a source of potassium fertiliser and potassium's role cannot be replicated by other nutrients.

Lac Dinga Project

The Lac Dinga Project is located in the Kouilou Region of the DRC, extending 57 km NW-SE. It is adjacent to the Dougou Potash Deposit, part of the Sintoukola Potash Permit held by Elemental Minerals Limited and which has a JORC compliant measures and indicated mineral resources of 1.1Bt grading 20.6% KCI. The Makola licence of Evergreen Resources Holdings (BVI) Ltd is also located in the region.

The development of its fertiliser trading operations build upon its 70% interest in the 702.5 km² Lac Dinga^[4] Project (the ‘Project’) located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which it acquired in February 2013. Exploration conducted at Lac Dinga to date has confirmed the presence of multiple potash seams with individual sample grades of up to 25% KCl (~15.8% K2O). Results received to date indicate that the Project host potash mineralisation consistent with the Congolese coastal basin, with about 250km2 of the licence area interpreted to be underlain by salt-bearing strata, underpinning the potential to host significant commercial potash deposits.

COMESA Trading Agreement

In August 2015, African Potash entered into a trading agreement with COMESA and MACFF, signed by the Secretary General of COMESA, Sindiso Ngwenya. Under the terms of the agreement, it will supply and deliver at least 500,000MT of fertiliser to off-takers identified and introduced by COMESA for an initial 3-year period. Since signing the agreement, African Potash has secured multiple agreements to supply 50,000MT of fertiliser to Zambia, 50,000MT to Malawi, 150,000MT to Zimbabwe and 150,000MT to the DRC.^[5][6][6][7]

Directors

Chris Cleverly

Chris Cleverly is the Executive Chairman of African Potash. He was called to the Bar in 1990, and subsequently founded Trafalgar Chambers, becoming the youngest head of chambers in the last century. In addition to his legal work, he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Made in Africa Foundation, a UK non-profit organisation established to assist the development of the African continent by providing first-stage funding for the feasibility studies and business development of large-scale infrastructure projects based in the region. He is also a regular presenter on TV and radio, and a contributor to newspapers and magazines on subjects regarding Africa and African development.

Rt Hon Lord Peter Hain

Lord Hain is the Non-Executive Director. Lord Hain was a Cabinet Minister for seven years and a government minister for five years, holding a number of positions including Foreign Minister, Europe Minister and Energy Minister. During this time, he gained significant experience in diplomacy, negotiation and conflict resolution. He is due to become a Member of the House of Lords in November 2015.^[8] Lord Hain has also held various directorships including positions with Amara Mining PLC, Developing Markets Associates Ltd, ADR Group Accredited Civil & Commercial Mediator and IDM Africa Business School. He is Ambassador to the Desmond Tutu Foundation, which aims to build peace in fractured communities, Chairman of Donald Woods Foundation, which does ground-breaking health and schools work in one of South Africa's poorest areas and a Trustee of the Listen Charity, fundraising for anti-poverty projects.

Rt Hon Mark Simmonds

Mark Simmonds is a Non-Executive Director. He is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as the Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness in Lincolnshire, from 2001-2015. Most recently he held the ministerial position of Foreign and Commonwealth Minister for Africa and as such he has a deep knowledge of the business and political landscape across the continent. During his parliamentary career Mr Simmonds held a number of shadow ministerial roles, including for Health, International Development, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Education. He is also the Non-Executive Deputy Chairman of Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, which focusses on promoting trade and investment by facilitating engagement between Government and the private sector throughout the Commonwealth.

Elias Pungong

Elias is a Non-Executive Director.^[9] He has advised governments, multinationals and private sector institutions across Africa on strategy, operation, and general management issues. He is Senior Partner and Oil & Gas Leader for Africa at Ernst & Young (EY), where he leads the firm's transaction advisory and assurance work within the energy practice. Prior to EY, he spent 14 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) where he was a member of PwC's Africa Leadership team, and Managing Partner for the firm's Sub-Saharan Africa Francophone team, leading the firm's expansion efforts across Francophone Africa. He currently serves as Honorary British Consul to the Littoral Region in Cameroon. A Fellow at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, he was also selected as one of the prestigious Young Global Leaders by the Davos World Economic Forum in 2009, earned an MA degree with first class honors in Mathematical Statistics from Oxford University, and received advanced executive training at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Yale School of Management in global leadership, management and organisational leadership.

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