Millennial Potash chair Farhad Abasov on company’s 2025 plans in Gabon - ICYMI

Millennial Potash Corp (TSX-V:MLP, OTCQB:MLPNF) earlier this week shared updates on its ongoing operations in Gabon and key milestones for 2025.

Chairman Farhad Abasov emphasized the steady global growth in potash demand, particularly in China, India, and Brazil. Millennial Potash aims to address Africa’s increasing agricultural needs by supplying potash from Gabon.

Proactive: Tell me a little bit about 2024. It has been a very busy year for the company.

Farhad Abasov: We started with our main resource estimate early this year. We confirmed 1.7 billion tonnes of indicated and inferred resource, based on only about 2% of the property. We have a very large property, over 1,200 square kilometers. After that, we followed up with a preliminary economic assessment, which came back with stellar economics. We have over $1 billion of after-tax NPV. Our after-tax IRR is over 32% as well—one of the highest in the industry and one of the lowest costs as well. We’re looking at $61 per tonne of operating costs, along with lower CapEx requirements. So the PEA was very strong. After that, we moved forward with financings.

Yeah, and that one put quite a bit of money into the treasury. So obviously, you’re gearing up for what’s ahead in 2025. But just on the financing itself, I know the demand was very high.

That was a very good round for us. It was over $3.7 million, and quite a bit of it came from our insiders. One of the large family offices out of the Far East came in with a substantial investment, which shows further confidence in the project and management. This funding round will be specifically for two programs. One is the starter environmental study, and the other is the second stage of drilling. This funding will cover all the requirements for these two programs. We will start the environmental assessment study shortly, and in the next few weeks, we’ll begin our second stage of drilling.

Tell me a bit about the environmental process. Does that take a long time?

That’s exactly right, which is why we want to start as early as possible. The plan is to complete the environmental studies by the end of 2025, if not earlier. For the drill program, it’s the same thing. We want to finish it, hopefully by the end of the first quarter, or maybe by the end of February. We also aim to come out with our expanded and revised resource estimate by that time.

Is this drill program continuing in that area, or are you trying to expand with some step-outs?

We’ll expand a little bit. We’ll redrill one of the historical drill holes, and then step out a little because we want to expand and drill a new hole there as well. We have very good historical data there, so we understand the geology quite well. We’ll focus on the southern part of the project for now, over the next few months. We think there’s more than enough resource there. With the current 1.7 billion tonnes of indicated and inferred, we think we can realistically expand it substantially—maybe even double it with two or three holes in the next few months.

Lastly, for people who may not be familiar with potash and its demand, can you talk about what you’re seeing globally?

Potash is a fertilizer, with over 90% used for that purpose. Global demand has been growing steadily for the last 10 to 15 years, at about 3 to 4% annually. This growth is mostly driven by developing nations like China, India, and Brazil. Brazil is one of the largest importers, with 13 million tonnes a year. China is the largest user, with 15 million tonnes annually, of which it imports 10 million. India is also a major importer. Africa, where we are focused, is one of the fastest-growing agricultural regions globally. Our plan is to supply African agriculture with potash from Gabon in the next few years.

Quotes have been lightly edited for style and clarity