Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd. has advised shareholders of a recent article by Richard Taylor in International Policy Digest that has commented on the effects of the proposed lowering of accepted cadmium levels in phosphate rock imported into European Union countries.
In this article it is estimated that a lowering of the limit to 20 grams per kilogram will effectively bar 95 per cent of phosphate ore from entering the EU market.
CRP cannot confirm that estimate but it does know that the reduced cadmium limits will affect a significant proportion of traded rock phosphate including rock sourced from Egypt, Israel, Boucraa and Youssoufia (Western Sahara/Morocco), Senegal, Togo, Tunisia, Nauru, and Christmas Island.
As the EU ban on high cadmium levels has arisen due to food safety concerns, it would be logical to assume that similar restrictions will occur in other regions. There have been voluntary restrictions in place in New Zealand for many years.
According to Chatham Rock Phosphate managing director Chris Castle, “The good news for Chatham Rock Phosphate shareholders is that cadmium levels in Chatham Rise rock phosphate are among the lowest in the world.”
Mr. Castle said the rock, located on the Chatham Rise seabed east of New Zealand showed an average of 2.2 parts per million (expressed as milligrams/kilogram of P) from a range of samples gathered by Chatham Rock in 2012 from 11 separate locations. The lowest value was 1.3 parts per million with a high of 5.3 parts per million.
Rock phosphate is already the scarcest of the three fertilizer constituents used to sustain world food and primary sector production. And if worldwide sales restrictions are placed on 95 per cent of that resource, the likely effect on the market value of the remaining 5 per cent of traded phosphate rock (and its producers) can only be imagined.
About Chatham Rock Phosphate Ltd.
Chatham Rock Phosphate is the custodian of New Zealand’s only material resource of ultra-low cadmium, environmentally friendly pastoral phosphate fertilizer. The company’s key role is connecting the resource with those who need it.
Using this phosphate will support sustainable farming practices, including healthier soil profiles and reduced accumulation of the heavy metal cadmium, reducing carbon emissions and dramatically lowering runoff to waterways and shrinking fertilizer needs over time.
The resource represents one of New Zealand’s most valuable mineral assets and is of huge strategic significance because phosphate is essential to maintain New Zealand’s high agricultural productivity.
