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FeRtILIseR sPotLIGHt

End in sight for Celamin

he COVID-19 pandemic “Tim Markwell and
Tmight have delayed the myself, together with
long-awaited return of Cel- Robin [Widdup] and Taz
amin Holdings Ltd’s interest [Aldaoud], are constantly
in the Chaketma phosphate reviewing what information
project, but managing di- we’ve been able to access,
rector Simon Eley is “com- what information we do
fortable and confident” his need to access and who is
company will finally see going to do that work,” Eley
an end to the standoff over said.
ownership rights as soon “We’ve already identi-
as restrictions are lifted in fied some people at the top
Tunisia. of their game both in terms
A hearing for the urgent of knowing the region and
application to compel the the commodity, so we’ve
return of Celamin’s interest got people ready and will-
in the operating company ing and raring to go.
which holds the Chaketma “We’re even talking
permits was scheduled for about doing some due
March 18, more than 2.5 diligence for a potential
years after the International investor via a Go-Pro
Court of Arbitration of the from someone on the
International Chamber of ground locally. As much
Commerce found the com- Celamin looks set to regain its interest in the operating company which holds the as COVID-19 has stopped
pany’s former JV partner Chaketma phosphate project in Tunisia progress and on-ground
Tunisian Mining Services activities, we’ll be ready as
(TMS) had fraudulently soon as there is an open-
transferred the rights to the project. ularly impressed with the consistency and, ing for us to get busy once we get our inter-
However, with the coronavirus enforcing more recently, the speed with which the est back as we expect.”
widespread shutdowns around the world, Tunisian courts had reacted to Celamin’s Eley said the company continues to fol-
including in Tunisia, that hearing was post- applications for a resolution to the owner- low global commentary around food secu-
poned just two days before it was due to ship dispute. rity and the opportunity for a phosphate
take place, meaning Celamin will have to “The ability for us to be able to put pres- developer such as Celamin to feed into
wait just that little bit longer to have its in- sure on TMS to honour those damages that thematic.
terest in Chakema returned. payments, in addition to the transfer of our “We’re looking at a global population
“We were literally within days of that fi- interest, was quite clear and the courts in 2050 of 10 billion people, so between
nal hearing and being awarded back that were incredibly quick to act on that for us,” where we sit now and where we need to
interest to be able to resume our manage- he said. get to, that’s 56% more food,” he said.
ment rights of the operating company and “In particular, the way they responded “Obviously not all of that is going to
further undertake both accounting and to TMS’s request for a delay…the judge come from cropping which requires fer-
technical due diligence on work that TMS did not understand TMS’s request for an tilisers, but you can rest assured that the
have done over the last five years that adjournment for the urgent application and bulk of it will, so I think there’s a huge task
we’ve been completely in the dark about,” was also dismissive of the reasons why a there from where we sit today in order to
Eley told Paydirt. request for an adjournment would be re- meet that gap.
“To be clear, this is not reopening the quired.” “To us, it’s just another good ex- “Combine that with the fact that the
case we won or unpicking the arbitration ample of the Tunisian administration being amount of arable land is steadily declin-
or anything like that; this was effectively effective and consistent. We’ve only had ing and we’ll need to grow more from less.
Celamin seeking orders pursuant to the positive decisions confirming and enforc- Then add to that the fact we’ve got some
arbitration, orders whereby the court could ing the arbitration award and not once pretty serious greenhouse gas emission
step in and act on behalf of TMS to formal- have the Tunisian authorities stepped restrictions now which means that we
ise the transfer of our interest. aside from it.” can’t have tractors burning diesel around
“It’s a little bit deflating, but we remain A BFS is the major foreseeable goal for the clock in order to meet those increased
comfortable and confident it will occur. We Celamin at Chaketma, which hosts an in- demands.
just need to wait for these confinement ferred resource of 130mt @ 20.5% P2O5. “The answer to all of that is a better un-
measures to resolve.” While the company remains limited in derstanding of how we can get more out of
On top of returning Celamin’s interest in what activities it can undertake on the pro- the land and one of the key elements for
Chaketma, TMS must also pay damages ject, Eley likened that work to the prover- that is effective use of fertilisers, of which
and costs totalling $US4.4 million ($7.9 bial “ducks on the pond – calm on top but phosphate plays a huge role.”
million). Daily interest is also accruing on flat out underneath” to ensure no further
that amount. time is lost once management rights are – Michael Washbourne
Eley said his company had been partic- restored.

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