TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The Toronto-listed stock of Verde Potash, which is developing the Cerrado Verde project in the heart of Brazil’s largest agriculture market, the “Cerrado”, in Minas Gerais state, on Friday rose more than 24% on the news that the company had appointed mining and finance executive Leonardo Moretzsohn to its board.

Verde said Moretzsohn would assume his position as director following the company’s annual general meeting on June 5.

He would bring a wealth of experience to Verde’s board, having served 24 years with Vale, including as CFO of Vale Inco, and five years with EBX Group. During his career, more than $10-billion of capital was raised through Brazilian, international and development banks.

Moretzsohn had 30 years of project finance experience in developing and implementing various mining projects, including the Carajás iron-ore and Salobo copper projects and the Alunorte alumina refinery.

During his tenure at Vale, he played an active role in restructuring the nonferrous division after the company's privatisation and implementing the strategic planning process for the iron-ore and aluminium businesses.

Moretzsohn supported a number of Vale's iron-ore and base metals merger and acquisition transactions. When Vale acquired Inco, he was appointed CFO and served as a member of the committee responsible for integrating the acquired company into Vale's business model and coordinating the financial activities of Vale Inco and its subsidiaries in Canada, Indonesia and New Caledonia.

He also served as a director on boards in Brazil and abroad, including those of PT Vale Indonesia and Samarco Mineração, a Brazilian iron-ore joint venture between Vale and BHP Billiton.

During his term with EBX Group, Moretzsohn was appointed CFO of MMX Minas-Rio and EBX Holding. Moretzsohn was also appointed CEO of CCX to develop a significant greenfield thermal coal project in Colombia. He was active in the growth of EBX between 2007 and 2012, as it became one of the most important resource conglomerates in Brazil.

"[Verde’s] stage of transition from development to project finance and construction warrants directors strongly integrated with capital markets and development banks. Leonardo is a singular talent with a wealth of relevant experience and relationships that will open a number of important doors for the company," Verde president and CEO Cristiano Veloso said.

Earlier this month, Verde announced that it had made significant progress with the engineering of the Cerrado Verde potassium chloride (KCl) process. The company had secured a performance guarantee for a rotary kiln for the company's potassium silicate to KCl process at a size less than the 12 000 t/d.

A performance guarantee is a key element in the process to arrange project finance debt. To receive similar guarantees on a 12 000 t/d kiln, and to mitigate both ramp-up and scale-up risks, Verde was considering running a semicommercial-scale demonstration plant. The company was also in discussions with other kiln suppliers to evaluate alternatives.

Evaporation and crystallisation technologies supplier Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies had also completed all necessary testing and was ready to supply evaporation and crystallisation equipment at any scale Verde desired for its commercial plant, representing another performance guarantee.

Verde’s TSX-listed stock traded at C$1.65 apiece on Friday, up 63.37% since Monday.