TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – With the December ‘ministerial decree’ in hand, the focus of project developer Arianne Phosphate is shifting to the development of the Lac à Paul project, in Quebec's Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, prompting it to appoint industry veterans Jean Lamarre as chairperson and Brian Ostroff as CEO to drive discussions with partners and financiers.
Lamarre was president of Lamarre Consultants and had 40 years of experience in international business development, finance, and corporate strategy.
Ostroff had been a director of Arianne since 2014, providing leadership in the company's financing activities and interactions with the capital markets. He brought with him 30 years of capital markets experience.
"During my past involvement, I have watched first hand as Arianne has systematically advanced its early staged exploration asset to what is today the world's largest greenfield phosphate rock project, with a pre-tax net present value of $1.9-billion that received a decree from the government of Quebec and has the support of First Nations involved. Lac à Paul is the biggest and the best and it is now time to work with partners and the community to get this financed and built,” stated Ostroff.
The C$1.2-billion Lac à Paul project was expected to produce a high-quality igneous apatite concentrate grading 39% phosphorus pentoxide, with little or no contaminants.