TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Verde Potash on Monday said a special financing programme of the Brazilian government, Inova Agro, had selected the company to advance to the next round of evaluation in the process to secure financing for Phase 1 of the Cerrado Verde project.

The proposed 1 000 t/d first-phase plant would produce the company’s new ThermoPotash product and would also seek performance guarantees for a large-scale potassium chloride kiln.

Inova Agro is a Brazilian government programme intended to fund innovative projects in the agriculture sector, including those focused on fertilisers. The total funds to be distributed by Inova Agro were budgeted at R$1-billion (about C$450-million), with funding allocation decisions to be announced in February 2014.

Selected projects would be considered for subsidised interest rates, equity investment and nonreimbursable project investment grants from the Brazilian Development Bank and/or the Financing Agency for Studies and Projects, both of which are arms of the Brazilian government with a mandate to support domestic projects.

“Management believes that access to debt funding from the Inova Agro programme could act as a significant advantage for the Cerrado Verde project. The company looks forward to working with the Inova Agro evaluation committee over the coming months,” Verde said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the company had also announced the appointment of Tim Slater as CFO.

Slater is the MD of Harmer Slater Chartered Accountants in the UK, and had been involved in the preparation of all of Verde’s financial statements and audit materials since 2007. Slater had acted as FD for a number of companies in the UK.

Verde also announced that director Dr Henrique Cavalcanti would retire from the board, after serving for four years. He was retiring from public company duties at the age of 84, after a long and distinguished career that included service as Brazil's Minister of the Environment (1994), Deputy Minister of Mines (1967 to 1969) and Deputy Minister of Interior (1969 to 1974).