Chatham Rock Phosphate
Seabed phosphate on New Zealand’s Chatham Rise
NZX: CRPFounded 2004
Chatham Rock Phosphate Limited holds a New Zealand mining permit over 820 square kilometres of the Chatham Rise, where phosphorite nodules lie on the seabed in 350 to 450 metres of water. It has held the permit since 2013 but has never mined: the marine consent it needs was refused in 2015, and it has committed to lodging a new application by November 2027. In 2026 it left the TSX Venture Exchange, moved its incorporation from British Columbia to New Zealand, and agreed a financing that can take its backer to 75% of the project company.
News and articles
Daily closes since October 22, 2025, to July 30, 2026, the last session in which the shares traded.
The shares are suspended on the NZX while the company completes its application for a primary listing there. They last traded on July 30, 2026, the day before the TSX Venture Exchange delisting took effect.
Overview
- Incorporated in New Zealand on April 27, 2004, as WPL (Newco) Limited, renamed Widespread Energy in May 2006, listed on the NZAX in October 2006 and renamed Chatham Rock Phosphate in April 2011.
- Its subsidiary Chatham Rock Phosphate (NZ) Limited holds mining permit MP 55549, granted on December 6, 2013, for 20 years over 820 km² of the Chatham Rise, roughly 450 km from the New Zealand coast.
- The pitch is agricultural rather than technological. The company aims to supply direct application phosphate to New Zealand farms, which currently import their rock phosphate.
- A marine consent application lodged in May 2014 was refused on February 10, 2015. The decision cited destruction of seabed habitat, effects inside the Mid Chatham Rise Benthic Protection Area and damage to protected stony coral communities.
- The company then spent a decade unable to fund a second application. New Zealand’s Fast-track Approvals Act, passed in December 2024, created a one-stop consenting route, and Chatham applied in April 2024 to have the project included.
- It has committed to New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals to lodge full marine consent applications by November 30, 2027, under either the fast-track regime or the original legislation. The regulator has recorded the company as late but compliant on its permit work programme.
- A resource statement effective April 29, 2026, reports 71 million cubic metres of inferred phosphorite. There are no measured or indicated resources and no reserves.
- In January 2026 the British Columbia Securities Commission required the company to tell investors not to rely on the economic analysis in its corporate presentation and on its website, because no compliant technical report supported it. The presentation was withdrawn and the new report followed in April.
- Queensland is being exited. The Korella phosphate ground it acquired from 2021 is inside a December 2025 agreement to sell the holding subsidiary to Austure Industries for A$1.4 million.
Projects
| Project | Tenure | Resource | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chatham Rise phosphorite, New Zealand exclusive economic zone | Mining permit MP 55549, granted December 6, 2013, for 20 years over 820 km², held by Chatham Rock Phosphate (NZ) Limited. Water depth 350 to 450 metres. | Inferred 71 million m³ at 295 kg/m³ of phosphorite, average thickness 0.20 m, at a 100 kg/m³ cutoff. Screened phosphorite grades ~18% to 19% P₂O₅. No measured or indicated resource and no reserves. An exploration target of a further 15 to 20 million m³ is conceptual. | Permitted but not consented. Marine consent refused February 10, 2015. New applications committed by November 30, 2027. Wetstone can earn up to 75% of the project company. |
| Korella North, Queensland | Mining lease ML100379 granted October 2024, with exploration permits EPM 28589 and EPM 28882. Held through Avenir Makatea Pty Ltd. | Indicated 0.6 Mt at 13.1% P₂O₅ and inferred 2.1 Mt at 13.0% P₂O₅ at a 10% cutoff, as at August 11, 2023. | Being sold. The December 22, 2025, agreement sells Avenir Makatea Pty Ltd to Austure Industries for A$1.4 million, being A$900,000 in cash over 24 months plus 20% of Austure Phosphate AU Pty Ltd. Completion has not been announced. |
| Korella South, Queensland | Exploration permit granted December 19, 2022, ~196 km², 20 km south of Korella North. | n/a | No resource published. Inside the same Austure sale package. |
| Makatea, French Polynesia | Exploration permit granted January 28, 2014, to SAS Avenir Makatea. A mining concession was applied for in June 2016. | Sampled phosphorite averaged 33.2% P₂O₅. No compliant resource has been published. | A rehabilitation-led project acquired with Avenir Makatea in June 2021. The company’s sale announcements discuss only the Queensland ground, so whether Makatea sits inside the sale is not stated. |
The Wetstone financing
Wetstone Global Inc., a Delaware company, is funding the Chatham Rise project at the subsidiary level rather than buying shares in the listed parent. It can end up with three quarters of the project.
- August 8, 2025: Wetstone Global lends Chatham Rock Phosphate (NZ) US$150,000, secured, at 10% a year rising by 2.5 points every six months from January 31, 2026, with a right of first refusal over any Chatham Rise transaction for two years. The company disclosed the loan on March 20, 2026, and said it had failed to announce it at signing in error.
- May 6, 2026: definitive investment agreement and loan novation. The loan moves to Wetstone’s New Zealand subsidiary and doubles to US$300,000. On the regulator consenting to the change of control it converts into 30% of the project company.
- Wetstone then funds development through limited recourse loans with no ceiling, converting at agreed technical, financial and regulatory milestones, and appoints a majority of the project company’s board.
- July 11, 2026: the agreement is amended to raise the maximum conversion from 70% to 75% of the project company at first production.
- Chatham Rock keeps a 2% net smelter royalty. Wetstone may buy back two thirds of it within three years of commercial production.
- September 22, 2026: the company says the transaction remains on track and that it will keep a free carried 25% interest in the Chatham Rise project alongside the royalty.
- The conversion had not happened as at the subsidiary register’s last update of March 31, 2026, when Chatham Rock still held 100%. The transaction moved from TSX Venture Exchange review to the New Zealand regime when the company asked the exchange to stop its review in June 2026.
Leaving Canada
- The Canadian listing was inherited. Chatham Rock reached the TSX Venture Exchange in March 2017 through a takeover of Antipodes Gold, a British Columbia company, and added a Frankfurt quotation that April.
- June 23, 2026: a special meeting is called to move the company’s incorporation from British Columbia to New Zealand and to delist from the TSX Venture Exchange in favour of a primary New Zealand listing. The company cites cost, the location of its head office, assets, management and directors, and the fact that most of its shareholders live outside Canada.
- July 14, 2026: shareholders approve both resolutions, the continuance by the two thirds majority it required and the delisting by a majority of the minority.
- July 31, 2026: the delisting takes effect and the New Zealand registration completes the same day.
- August 3, 2026: the Frankfurt quotation ends.
- The shares are suspended on the NZX pending the primary listing application. The company warned in June that there could be a period in which shareholders could not sell.
- September 22, 2026: the company says its NZX listing profile and audited accounts are well advanced and that it expects to relist within about four weeks, although some remaining steps, partly tied to the Wetstone transaction, are outside its control.
Ownership
| Holder | Shares | Percent | As reported in |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Research GmbH, the company of director Georg Hochwimmer | 13,060,264 | 11.1 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| New Zealand Depository Nominee Limited, custodian | 12,745,062 | 10.8 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Jarden Custodians Limited, custodian | 8,134,418 | 6.9 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| New Zealand Central Securities Depository Limited, custodian | 5,193,564 | 4.4 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Droneen Pty Limited | 4,168,605 | 3.5 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Holy Grail Holdings Limited | 2,500,000 | 2.1 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Mohsin Najarali | 2,163,000 | 1.8 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| George Wong Kim Pau and Happy Sim | 2,013,353 | 1.7 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Ryan Kong Fui Wong, director | 2,000,000 | 1.7 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Christopher Castle, chief executive, registered parcel | 1,279,990 | 1.1 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026 |
| Total shares outstanding | 118,088,587 | 100 | New Zealand Companies Register and the NZX, August 21, 2026. This is the 115,410,765 shares in the June 8, 2026, circular plus the 2,677,822-share placement that closed on June 19, 2026. |
Group ownership
| Group | Shares | Percent | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Insiders and their associates and affiliates | 26,571,919 | 23.0 | Company release of June 23, 2026, at the June 3, 2026, record date |
| Holders above 10%, being General Research GmbH | 13,060,264 | 11.1 | New Zealand Companies Register, updated July 31, 2026. The June 8, 2026, circular put the same holder at 10.1% of the smaller pre-placement count. |
Three of the ten largest registered parcels are custodial nominees rather than beneficial owners. Wetstone holds no shares in the listed company: its interest is in the project subsidiary. Warrants over 3,162,995 shares at C$0.12 from the December 2025 placement run to December 2026, and earlier 2025 unit placements carry warrants the company has not restated in a single current disclosure. A private placement at NZ$0.05 a share, with no minimum and not open to retail investors, was announced on September 22, 2026, and is expected to close on October 16, 2026.
Presentations
The company has no current investor presentation. It withdrew the one on its website after the January 2026 correction, which told investors not to rely on its economic analysis until a compliant technical report was filed. The report below, effective April 29, 2026, replaced it as the current description of the resource.
PDF
Prepared by RSC Consulting. The mineral resource, the permit and its work programme, and the consenting history.
PDF
The continuance from British Columbia to New Zealand and the delisting from the TSX Venture Exchange, with the share counts as at June 8, 2026.
Filing archive
Chatham Rock filed in Canada on SEDAR+ throughout its TSX Venture Exchange listing, from 2012 until the delisting took effect on July 31, 2026. Every document is hosted here. Its New Zealand disclosure now goes to the NZX, and those releases are in the news table at the top of this page.