Bulk Metals: Trigg to ride wave towards hungry masses

How to feed 10 billion hungry humans by 2050 is a challenge recent ASX debutante Trigg Mining (ASX:TMG) has taken on for itself.

Trigg is searching for sulphate of potash (SOP) resources it hopes could provide much needed elements for plant growth and human nutrition.

Today, the explorer unveiled a high-grade discovery out at its Lake Throssell SOP project in WA.

Initial samples include high grades of up to 6,660 milligrams per litre potassium (K) or 14.8 kilograms per cubic metre SOP equivalent.

The average grades of the samples were 5,296 mg/L K or 11.8 kg/m3 SOP, says the company, comparable to high-grade SOP samples produced by its peers.

Trigg managing director Keren Paterson says the company’s discovery could help Australia improve its food security down the track.

“The Lake Throssell project is shaping up to be a significant SOP project,” she said.

“These high-grade results across the playa and the potential scale of the underlying palaeochannel makes this discovery one of the most important for Australia’s emerging SOP industry and our nation’s food security.”

Trigg plans to get out in the field next year for aircore drilling to produce an official resource for its project in 2020.

The explorer added 12.4 per cent by late morning today.

Food security is no lightly digested goal

It means enough food for everyone at all times. Not just food that fills the tum, it’s food that meets everyone’s nutrition and dietary needs. Everyone in the world.

Oxfam Australia knows the struggle is real to increase world food supplies by 70 per cent by 2050.

Its cheat sheet on meeting food security needs focuses on a five-point plan for success.

This involves ensuring food security reserves, focusing on agroecology efforts, going fair trade and low wastage, and delivering efforts for and by small-scale farmers to make uptake

Trigg’s peers in the food fertiliser space also hope to also project SOP offerings into world markets in future years.

The companies include Salt Lake Potash (ASX:SO4) which hopes to start first SOP production in the December quarter of 2020 at its flagship Lake Way project near Wiluna and Australian Potash (ASX:APC) which is undertaking front-end engineering and design work on its Lake Wells potash project near Laverton in WA.

Another ASX’er Agrimin (ASX:AMN) has the Mackay potash project on the border of WA and the Northern Territory in Lake Mackay, the largest known potash-bearing salt lake in Australia.

Its been looking for sulphate of potash (SOP) resources it hopes could provide much needed elements for plant growth and human nutrition.

In other ASX bulk metals news today:

American Pacific Borates (ASX:ABR) has unveiled plans to double sulphate of potash production at its Fort Cady mine project, hoping to produce 240k standard tonnes per annum or double its current planned scaled-up production rate of 120k stpa. The upped production goal would increase earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first full year at the project by $US55m to $US400m, based on financial metrics in the company’s definitive feasibility study.