(Alliance News) - Shares in Harvest Minerals Ltd shot up on Wednesday, after the company said it discovered "critical rare earth elements" at its Brazilian fertiliser project.
Shares in Harvest Minerals were up 52% at 1.90 pence per share in London on Wednesday morning. They remain down 71% over the past 12 months.
The South America-focused fertiliser producer said it has identified potential for rare earth elements at its wholly owned Arapua fertiliser project.
Analysis of rock samples from the site in southeastern Brazil demonstrated the occurrence of rare earth elements with contents ranging from 1,176 to 1,860 parts per million.
Laboratory analysis being validated by Harvest has indicated contents ranging from 1,837 to 4,117 parts per million of total rare earth oxides.
Harvest has initiated a programme to re-assay a "substantial" set of selected rock samples and drilling data from Arapua.
Chair Brian McMaster said: "It is encouraging to observe the presence of critical rare earth elements at the Arapua project. We acknowledge the significance of the total rare earth oxides grades observed in the rock samples in our database, particularly depending on whether the mineralization is associated with ionic clays, which we are currently investigating. We have initiated a work programme specifically focused on REE to validate both existing and historical data, and we will report the results in due course".
Harvest also provided an update on first quarter sales of the organic, multi-nutrient fertiliser, KP Fertil, produced at Arapua.
In the three months ended March 31, orders totalled 8,492 tonnes, equating to 24% of the 34,880 tonnes ordered in total in 2023.
Invoiced orders came to 7,142 tonnes, and Harvest expects the remainder to be invoiced through the second quarter.
McMaster described the first quarter sales as "a fair start to the year".
He said: "As we move forward, we acknowledge the challenging market conditions but remain cautiously optimistic about the anticipated improvement in the second half of the year, particularly in our target crop segments."
By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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